“People around me have to be positive, and like to be around me. All of my friends would describe me as crazy, but intelligent. Most people are intimidated by my look, but later get to see that I am a loving, fun-going person. I love children, and would someday have some of my own. When I grow up, I want to be a pediatrician, and later own my own daycare. To get to there I have to keep a focused mind and stay on the path that I am on now. It won’t be hard because success is where I’m headed.”
—Shalanta
Dawoud Bey’s series Class Pictures started from a sequence of portraits the artist captured during his 1992 residency at the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Andover. Over the next 15 years Bey took portraits of high-school students across the United-States aiming to collect the diverse faces of a generation from different backgrounds. Each sitting took 45 minutes and began with the subject writing a brief autobiography before posing in front of the photographer’s camera. Bey only read their personal statement after the session and this text appeared alongside each portrait in the published book.
Regarding this series, Bey said that he wished 'to create a compelling and significant contemporary portrait of American youth in its various social and human dimensions. I believe that such a group of photographs-with the attendant texts-will constitute a significant record and examination of our time... Rather than viewing young people through a lens of social problematics that generalizes the individual, I intend to make a rich and complex description of these subjects.'
