Artwork copyright Dawoud Bey. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Dawoud Bey. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Adbul Ghaffaar and Sarah Malvar, from the series Strangers/Community: Tacoma, 2013

Dawoud Bey
(American, born 1953)

Location: University of Washington - Tacoma, Tacoma

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Dawoud Bey's paired portraits bring together people from different parts of the Tacoma community. The portraits reveal superficial similarities and differences while expressing the connections that make a community work.

This body of work, created for the University of Washington Tacoma, is part of an ongoing project by Dawoud Bey exploring and identifying diverse communities.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with University of Washington.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dawoud Bey's artworks explore and challenge stereotypical images of African Americans and other marginalized groups, using documentary style photographic techniques. In his own words, "We often speak of community in a singular way when in fact communities are complex social structures, often populated by a wide range of people from various racial, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds."

Dawoud Bey was born in Queens, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from Empire State College in upstate New York in 1990, and a Master of Fine Arts degree at Yale University in Connecticut. He is currently a professor of photography at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.