Dawoud Bey, Julia, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, 2003, Chromogenic print, Courtesy of the artist, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, and Gorney Bravin + Lee

Interview Excerpt

There was a period of time were I was like, really really depressed and that was in 8th grade, and during that time I'd been missing steadily one day a week of school because I just couldn't get out of bed. Like, I remember, Mondays and Wednesdays were the worst. Mondays because, ahh, it was the beginning of the week and you had the whole week in front of you, and Wednesdays because, um, it was still going, it hadn't ended yet. But, so by the time I got to spring break and we had nothing to do, I had no real reason to get out of bed. And, um... my mom was really scared, 'cause my sister had finally gone into the hospital for bulimia. And... she was more worried about me than she was worried about my sister just 'cause I seemed so deranged. I couldn't think in big words. I couldn't really think; my mind was just dead. That was right after I hadn't told anybody for three months that my sister was throwing up, and I kind of imploded. I mean that was kind of like our relationship—Laura would tell me something and then I couldn't tell anybody else. I used to feel like I was her, ah, like her human diary, and it was a nice feeling, I felt really important to her. And I think I was in many ways, I just don't think she really appreciated me that much.