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Exhibition: Dawoud Bey: The Chicago Project
Exhibition: Group Portrait
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Kevin, South Shore High School Dawoud Bey, Kevin, South Shore High School, 2003, Chromogenic print, Courtesy of the artist, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, and Gorney Bravin + Lee

Is it possible for a photographic portrait to reveal anything "real" about you or someone else? What aspects of yourself are you willing to share with the world, and how do others respond to these self-presentations? As part of an intensive 12-week artist residency that began November 2002, acclaimed Chicago-based photographer Dawoud Bey asked these questions of 12 teenagers from Kenwood Academy High School, South Shore Small School of Entrepreneurship and Small School of the Arts, and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Over the course of the residency, students explored questions of identity and photographic representation, curated the exhibition Group Portrait (April 5-June 22, 2003) and developed materials for this website. Bey photographed each student at his or her school, and Meister and Collison recorded their voices during individual interviews; these composite portraits are featured in the major exhibition Dawoud Bey: The Chicago Project, in Collaboration with Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister (April 24-June 22, 2003).

Participating students included: DeMarco Anderson, Sara Azarmi, Theresa Bailey, Kevin Brown, Simone Bullen, Julia Halpern, Kenneth Roberson, Christopher Robinson, Steven Sinclair, Leah Walsh, and Carolyn Yates.

A comprehensive catalogue documenting the residency, exhibitions, and related programs will be published in fall 2003 and distributed by the University of Chicago press.

Dawoud Bey: The Chicago Project and related projects and programs are generously sponsored in part by the MetLife Foundation Museum Connections Program; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Smart Family Foundation; Sara Lee Foundation; Nuveen Investments; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; Allen and Lynn Turner, the Cultural Policy Center and the Center for Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. Additional support for exhibitions is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Office of the Provost, the Visiting Committee on the Visual Arts, and the Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago; and Friends of the Smart Museum.

Education programs receive funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; the Polk Bros. Foundation; the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Kraft Foods; the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education; the Regents Park / University of Chicago Fine Arts Partnership; and the JCCC Foundation of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago. Family programs are partially supported by Target Stores.

A portion of the Smart Museum's general operating funds for 2002-2003 has been provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning; the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; and the Chicago Community Trust.








National Endowment for the Arts