A brush with... Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey talks to Ben Luke about his influences—from writers to musicians, and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work. Bey, who was born in 1953 in New York, makes photographs and film installations that address the experience of Black people in the US, from the horrors of slavery via racist violence and the Civil Rights era to intimate moments in contemporary life. He began his career as a photographer in the 1970s with the consistent aim to work as an artist rather than a photojournalist. While he was celebrated from the start for his depictions of people and communities, he has always had a particular sensitivity to place, and after several decades in which portraiture and street photography were dominant strains in his practice, his work over the past decade has focused mostly on landscape. But even when they are not physically present, those who have lived in and travelled through the places he depicts are as much part of the photographs’ and films’ subject as the environments captured by his camera. He has said of recent series, for instance, that he wants to capture the landscape as seen and felt by the enslaved people who moved through it, and a profound sense of empathy underpins all his output. “This notion of the radical Black imaginary,” he explains, “is the foundation or place that my work springs from.” He discusses how his background in jazz and how it has influenced his art-making, his term “subjective opticality” and what it tells us about the camera and the perspective of the photographer, and the importance of photographs as objects. He reflects on the early influence of Roy DeCarava and John Coltrane, who continue to impact his thinking today, his early fascination with Rembrandt, his work with David Hammons and friendship with Torkwase Dyson, how he has responded to Toni Morrison in his recent photographic series, and the ongoing influence of Michael Roemer, the film-maker with whom he studied. Plus, he gives insight into life in the studio and asks our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?

Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living Landscapes, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, until 4 July 2027. The exhibition is co-presented by the Toronto Biennial of Art 2026.

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