Dawoud Bey received a B.F.A. (1990) from Empire State College of the State University of New York and an M.F.A. (1993) from Yale University. His work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Walker Art Center, the National Portrait Gallery (London), and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others. In 1998, he joined the faculty of Columbia College Chicago, where he is currently a professor in the Department of Photography and a former Distinguished College Artist.