DAWOUD BEY EDUCATION CENTER AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY
“Black people have very rich and deep inner lives with a wide range of human emotions, intellectually, and otherwise. Black people do not merely exist in a state of radicalized anguish; that’s not the sum of who we are. My work is a platform for this notion that Black people have rich inner lives, lives of aspiration, lives of disappointment, lives of curiosity, and the things that animate or inhabit any other person who is a part of the human community.”
DAWOUD BEY
ABOVE: Dawoud Bey
Sharmaine, Vicente, Joseph, Andre, and Charlie, 1993. Collection of the MoCP by commision.
COVER: Dawoud Bey Don Sledge and Moses Austin from The Birmingham Project, 2012. Collection of the MoCP.
AN AMERICAN ICON
For nearly 30 years, Dawoud Bey has been a fixture at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. His first experience was through a residency that catalyzed his career with his inaugural Chicago exhibition. Today, as Professor of Photography, Bey engages his students in dialogues about art and justice and challenges them to think about how their work interacts not just in the world now but also into the future.
Known for his work that depicts Black culture and history in America, Professor Bey is a pioneer of contemporary photography. Through his masterful eyes and his camera lens, his photography subtly yet profoundly captures the complicated and interwoven past and present of Black life in America.
From his early street photography work of Harlem, USA to his evocative portraits from The Birmingham Project and his large-scale series about the Underground Railroad, Night Coming
Tenderly, Black, Professor Bey’s career has spanned more than four decades. He has exhibited around the world, given a voice to marginalized communities, and inspired the next generation of contemporary artists through his teachings.
Photo: Whitten Sabatinni
THE FUTURE FOCUS CAMPAIGN
Since its founding in 1976, the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago has become the world’s premier academic art museum dedicated to photography. Housing a notable collection of over 16,500 works, the MoCP is known for its profound exhibitions that explore the issues that define our time, as well as providing free educational programs to all.
Today, the MoCP has reached a pivotal moment in its growth as an institution and is poised for a reimagined home. Through the Future Focus Campaign, $25M is being raised to completely renovate the museum and invest in the leadership of the MoCP’s people. When the renovation is complete, the MoCP will be a cornerstone of Columbia’s campus and an indispensable cultural resource for the college and Chicago.
Through the generosity of the Lannan Foundation, a distinguished leader in supporting the arts, they will match—dollar for dollar—the first $7M in funds raised to bring the reimagined MoCP to reality.
A REIMAGINED MoCP
The MoCP’s renovation will give the already highly-respected museum the public visibility it has long deserved to continue its unique educational mission, foster ongoing growth as an institution, and reflect its distinctive work.
• A multistory window-filled profile situated along Chicago’s Cultural Corridor on Michigan Avenue.
• Larger and adaptable exhibition spaces on multiple levels
• A dedicated education center
• An expanded temperature-controlled collection vault
• State-of-the-art technological upgrades for multimedia installations
• Chicago’s first room-sized public camera obscura
Second Floor Landing
THE DAWOUD BEY EDUCATION CENTER
As part of the Future Focus Campaign, a dedicated group of donors have created a special initiative to honor Professor Dawoud Bey. This initiative acknowledges his profound contribution to the field of photography and education by instilling his namesake onto the institution.
Central to the redesign is the development of a state-of-the-art education center. As a hub for research and dialogue, this space will provide students, scholars, and educators the opportunity to engage with and study objects from the permanent collection.
To make this vision a reality, we need to raise $5M. When complete, this new space will be named The Dawoud Bey Education Center to honor his role in educating the next generation of artists. We invite you to join us in making our vision a reality by making a gift today.
“One of the things that I think is important is to give students a sense of how the act of being a photographer or an artist is not separated from being in conversation with the larger society.”
DAWOUD BEY
IMAGES DEFINE OUR WORLD. TOGETHER, WE DEFINE THE IMAGE.
Natasha Egan Executive Director Museum of Contemporary Photography Columbia College Chicago negan@colum.edu
Miriam Smith Vice President of Development Columbia College Chicago msmith@colum.edu
