Artist: Dawoud Bey
Title: A Woman and Three Children
Date: 1985
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Credit Line: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art Northwestern University, gift of Sari and James A. Klein in honor of Lisa Corrin and Peter Erickson, 2014.4.1

Dawoud Bey has spent decades capturing the vibrant narratives of Black American youth through thoughtfully composed photographs that transform everyday moments into powerful visual statements. Bey’s work builds on the legacy of earlier African American portrait photographers, such as James Van Der Zee and Roy DeCarava, who captured Black life with dignity and depth. Bey’s work moves fluidly between portraiture and documentary traditions and is deeply invested in reclaiming representation—asserting Black presence in ways that feel both monumental and intimate.

A Woman and Three Children is situated within Bey’s broader practice of documenting Black life across the United States. This piece is part of the larger series An American Project. While Bey’s early work in Harlem is rooted in the tradition of street photography, he began to take new directions in the 1980s. Unlike many street photographers, whose subjects are often unaware of the camera, A Woman and Three Children reflects a shift toward engagement—an evolution that underscores Bey’s growing focus on agency in portraiture.

In 1985, early in his career, Bey participated in a residency at Light Work, a Syracuse-based nonprofit that supports emerging photographers from underrepresented communities. Created during this time, A Woman and Three Children, presents four figures in the frame, but only one looks directly at the camera. A young girl stares out, her expression inscrutable, but somewhat defiant. The intensity of her gaze contrasts with the three other figures in the frame, who are all turned away, bringing the viewer’s attention back to her. This composition reflects Bey’s broader approach—giving his subjects the space to assert their presence on their own terms. In an article by curator Colin Westerbeck, we learn that as Bey’s practice developed, he began to view photographing subjects without their knowledge as equivalent to a “mugging,” and the subject’s direct gaze became a staple in his portraits.¹

Bey has also stated that, “Black people have been killed for directing their gaze at the wrong person, I want my subjects to reclaim their right to look, to see, and to be seen.”² That sentiment is at the heart of Untitled (Syracuse, NY). The girl’s gaze isn’t just curious, it’s intentional. It demands recognition.  Bey’s portraits do not simply document their subjects—they empower them. His images ensure that his subjects aren’t just seen in passing but recognized, fixed in the visual history of America with a presence that refuses to be overlooked.

Contributed by Raya Bryant-Young, 2024–2025 Undergraduate Curatorial Intern

1. Quoted in Westerbeck, 114 ↩︎
2. Quoted in Westerbeck, 115 ↩︎

Bibliography

Bey, Dawoud, et al. Dawoud Bey: Two American Projects. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2020.

Charlton, Lauretta. “Dawoud Bey,” New York Times Magazine, October19, 2020

Reynolds, Jock. “An Interview with Dawoud Bey,” in Dawoud Bey: Portraits 1975–1995 (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1995)

Westerbeck, Colin. “Bey’s People,” Art in America (November 2012): 110-117.

Highlights from the Light Work Collection: Dawoud Bey. Accessed July 28, 2025. https://www.lightwork.org/archive/highlights-from-the-light-work-collection-dawoud-bey-2/