BAYETÉ ROSS SMITH

BAYETÉ ROSS SMITH

^{(b. 1976, Greenfield, MA; living and working in Harlem)}

Multidisciplinary artist Bayeté Ross Smith uses photography, film, visual journalism, 3D objects, and emerging media to explore often-unvoiced histories, identity, community, beauty, and reciprocity. Additionally, he examines how identity and community form the basis of human interactions, the social systems we create, and our framework for seeing the world. His interactive works often immerse audiences in the sights and sounds of others’ history, from designing VR experiences based on oral histories that bring erased histories of racial violence to light, to creating sonic landscapes that develop a portrait of a community. His collaborative, public-generated photography projects also interrogate biases based on clothing, race, gender, and class signifiers. By incorporating elements of digital culture and interactivity, Ross Smith ensures his work remains accessible to a wide audience. His ongoing projects include Red Summers VR (2021), Got the Power: Boomboxes (2011), and Our Kind of People (2010). He works with Harvard University’s Project Implicit, alongside serving as a faculty member at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Ross Smith received a BS in Photography from Florida A&M University (1999), and an MFA in Photography from the California College of the Arts (2004). He has received several awards and distinctions, including Columbia Law School’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence, a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a TED Resident, and a POV NY Times embedded media-maker. His work remains in the permanent collections of institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the Oakland Museum of California, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Brooklyn Museum.