Dawoud Bey’s teenage subjects defy stereotypes of American youth during this complicated age. For Class Pictures, Bey photographed young people from all parts of the economic, racial, and ethnic spectrum in both public and private high schools in Detroit; Lawrence and Andover, Massachusetts; Orlando; San Francisco; and New York City. Bey spent two to three weeks in each school. The resulting portraits—forty-by-thirty-inch color prints—are arresting both compositionally and psychologically.

Bey also asked his subjects to write a page about themselves, which he edited, and are displayed alongside the photographs. Many of the first-person statements are touching, funny, or harrowing, invariably deepening our appreciation for young adults facing the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Aperture, a not-for-profit organization devoted to photography and the visual arts, has organized this traveling exhibition and produced the accompanying publications. This project was made possible, in part, with generous support from Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro. Additional support was provided by Sandra and Jack Guthman, Scott and Willa Lang, Susan and Lewis Manilow, and Madeline Murphy Rabb. The Addison presentation is made possible through the generous support of the Edward E. Elson Artist-in-Resident Fund and the Mollie Bennett Lupe & Garland M. Lasater Exhibitions Fund.

© Dawoud Bey
Kevin
digital C-print
40 x 30 in.