Dawoud Bey
Dawoud Bey is a widely celebrated photographer and educator whose work engages with the Black presence in America, both past and present. Predominantly working in portraiture for the first several decades of his career, more recent projects utilize landscape to open a dialog about intentionally hidden American stories, exploring how places can hold memory.
Watch
The Artist "Dawoud Bey: Elegy" Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Selected Work
Artist News
Solo Exhibition
Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living Landscapes
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Opening July 24, 2026 as part of the Toronto Biennial of Art “Things Fall Apart”
Exhibition
Big Tent
FotoFocus Center
Cincinnati, OH
May 29–August 22, 2026
PRESS – Aperture
PRESS – The Guardian
PRESS – Surface Magazine
Big Tent, the inaugural exhibition at FotoFocus Center, reflects the spirit of the nation and the ideals of FotoFocus, each founded on principles of democracy, creativity, experimentation, and clear-eyed realism. Featuring a diverse ensemble of artists from FotoFocus’ past and future, Big Tent examines the ever-changing nature of American public life within a building created specifically for personal reflection and collective exchange. [image courtesy of Wes Battoclette]
Triennial
9th Triennial of Photography Hamburg
“Alliance, Infinity, Love – In the Face of the Other”
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
June 5 – September 22
Exhibition
New Acquisitions: Photography
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
June 12 – September 6, 2026
New Acquisitions: Photography will highlight the extraordinary breadth of photographs the institution owns and celebrate how crafting a collection is an art form in and of itself. Featured photographers include Dawoud Bey, Rahim Fortune, Nikita Gale, Martine Gutierrez, Richard Learoyd, Baldwin Lee, Catherine Opie, Ed Panar, Susan Worsham, and more.
Exhibition
Poetics of Blackness
Tate Modern, London
Through January 10, 2027
Exhibition
About Face: 250 Years of American Portraits
Mattatuck Museum
April 26, 2026 – August 16, 2026
Featuring portraits from 250 years of American life, this exhibition speaks to the importance of portraiture as mode of artistic, political, and cultural expression throughout American history.
Exhibition
From Now: A Collection in Context | Studio Museum in Harlem
November 15, 2025–August 16, 2026
From Now: A Collection in Context, including work by Dawoud Bey, is a dynamic, shifting installation of thematic exchanges drawn entirely from the Studio Museum in Harlem’s collection and installed throughout the building.
Exhibition Catalog
Gallery Exhibitions
Dawoud Bey: 2020 Exhibition
February 1 – March 21, 2020
Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project
September 5 – October 19, 2013
Dawoud Bey: 2001 Exhibition
June 7 – July 14, 2001
