Dawoud Bey: An American Project

While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.

Since the 1970s, the photographer Dawoud Bey has worked to bring marginalised American communities into view. This retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (17 April–3 October) extends from the early portraits of Harlem residents he completed between 1975 and 1979 to recent series including Harlem Redux (2014–17) – documenting his return to the neighbourhood four decades on. Other works on display include The Birmingham Project (2012), a series of portraits marking the 50th anniversary of the bombing of a baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, and Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2017), which looks at the experience of escaped slaves in the 19th century. Find out more from the Whitney’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Don Sledge and Moses Austin, Birmingham, AL (2012), Dawoud Bey. © Dawoud Bey

A Woman at Fulton Street and Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY (1988), Dawoud Bey. Courtesy of the artist, Sean Kelly Gallery, Stephen Daiter Gallery, and Rena Bransten Gallery; © Dawoud Bey

Untitled #20 (Farmhouse and Picket Fence I) (2017), Dawoud Bey. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Dawoud Bey