“History remains with us in the present; it permeates the very ground we walk on, the air we breathe,” says American photographer Dawoud Bey (b. 1953), whose current exhibition at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts focuses on times gone by. Born in Queens, New York, Bey is known for street scenes and portraits that brim with humanity, complexity and empathy, chronicling the lives of marginalised people and unseen events. Now, in Elegy, the artist turns to landscapes, meditating on place as a profound repository of memory – a witness to African American experiences rarely represented in collective US history.
The display begins with Stony the Road (2023) – 12 large-scale monochrome prints that illustrate the excruciating realities of the Virginia Slave Trail. Viewers are pulled in through haunting black and white shots of a footpath, still visible amongst the bushes. This three-mile-long track connected Manchester Docks and Richmond where Africans arrived in bondage and walked into enslavement. Alongside the photographic series, the sound of moving image fills up the gallery. 350,000 (2023) reminds us of the sheer number of men, women and children sold from Richmond’s auction blocks between 1830 and 1860.
In This Here Place (2019) delves into Black life and domestic labour. Here we see tranquil views of wooden cabins amongst shrubs and willow trees – a seemingly peaceful land permeated with violence. What first appears as a residential area with detached houses and timber fences was once the site of a plantation located along the Mississippi River. Elegy concludes with Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2017), Bey’s first project focusing on countryside vistas. Taken around Cleveland and Hudson, it charts the Underground Railroad in Ohio – pathways travelled by enslaved people making their way towards freedom. Bey’s historically grounded work asks us to become active participants and engage with legacies of people who must never be forgotten.
Dawoud Bey: Elegy | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts | Until 25 February
Words: Fruzsina Vida
Image credits:
1. Open Window, from the series In This Here Place, 2019, Dawoud Bey (American, born 1953), gelatin silver print. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. Image © Dawoud Bey
2. Untitled (Trail and Trees), from the series Stony the Road, 2023, Dawoud Bey (American, born 1953), gelatin silver print. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of Mrs. Alfred duPont, by exchange. Image © Dawoud Bey
3. Irrigation Ditch, from the series In This Here Place, 2019, Dawoud Bey (American, born 1953), gelatin silver print. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. Image © Dawoud Bey
