Opening the shutters on teensÕ world

 Dawoud Bey kicks off photography lecture series

Dawoud Bey will give a free public lecture Feb. 26, 2003, at California State University, Monterey Bay. His talk will be the first of three this spring in a series called Contemporary Photography: Issues and Images of Race and Representation.

As a teenager, Bey encountered the works of African-American photographer James Van Der Zee in the exhibit ÒHarlem on My MindÓ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was the first photo exhibit he had ever seen and he was hooked Ð since then, heÕs spent 25 years documenting urban life and portraying young people.

Bey is especially interested in young people because theyÕre the Òarbiters of styleÓ for a community, and he focuses on young minority men to put a Òhuman faceÓ on individuals whom he believes contemporary American society too often dismisses.

He came to the university last fall to work with and photograph students at the Watsonville Community School, an alternative education program of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. He returns the last week of February to complete the project.

The photography lecture series will continue March 13 with Tony Gleaton, best known for his project, AfricaÕs Legacy in Mexico. The series will conclude April 24 with Albert Chong, who uses combinations of objects and vintage family photographs to create intimate, narrative constructions.

The public is invited to this free event, which will be held in the Music Hall, Building 30, on Sixth Avenue.

Directions to the university and a map are available on the universityÕs website at csumb.edu. The university wishes to make this program accessible to people with disabilities. Anyone with disability-related needs, is asked to call Alison Clifford at 582-3130 one week prior to the event.

What: Lecture by photographer Dawoud Bey

When: 6 p.m., Feb. 26, 2003

Where: CSUMB Music Hall, Building 30, on Sixth Avenue

Cost: Free, but parking fee must be paid

Information: Alison Clifford, 582-3130.