©Dawoud Bey, Untitled #25 (Lake Erie and Sky), from the series Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017, gelatin silver print.

For nearly five decades, American photographer Dawoud Bey has explored Black life through portraiture, landscape, and moving image, revealing how history continues to shape the present. This ongoing exploration continues in his upcoming exhibition, Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living Landscapes, opening July 24, 2026, at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Presented in partnership with the 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art and curated by Allison Glenn, Curator of the 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art, the exhibition brings together 23 large-scale works from Bey’s recent series, including Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2016–17), In This Here Place (2019), and Stony the Road (2023), alongside 350,000 (2023),  a two-channel film from the Rennie Collection reimagining the journey made by enslaved Africans along the Richmond Slave Trail. Installed alongside four African sculptures from the AGO’s permanent collection, this site-specific installation traces the historical connections between North America and Africa, emphasizing how landscapes and waterways reveal the histories that have shaped the Black diaspora.

While portraiture has long been central to Bey’s practice, this exhibition continues his more recent exploration of landscape as a vessel for memory, asking what the land itself can reveal about histories of enslavement, migration, and survival. Throughout his practice, Bey has demonstrated a remarkable ability to photograph the presence of what cannot be seen. Rather than illustrating historical events directly, he turns to landscapes and the built environment, inviting viewers to consider the experiences embedded within them. In doing so, he reveals how the past remains embedded in contemporary experience.

Bey shares, “I hope that viewers will come to a deeper consideration of history, and realize that history does not stay in the past, it very much informs and shapes the present as well.” Dawoud Bey: Material Histories, Living Landscapes carries this sentiment forward, offering viewers an opportunity to reflect on how history continues to live within the landscapes we encounter and the stories we inherit, as well as photography’s unique ability to make those connections visible.

Installation view, Dawoud Bey: Stony the Road at Sean Kelly, New York. January 10 – February 22, 2025. Photo: Adam Reich. Courtesy Sean Kelly, New York

©Dawoud Bey, Untitled (James River),from the series Stony the Road, 2023, gelatin silver print.

Left: Dawoud Bey (American, born 1953), Untitled #25 (Lake Erie and Sky) (detail), AP2, From the series Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017. Gelatin silver print. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey. Image courtesy of the artist; Right: Dogon peoples. Seated Couple, possibly 19th century or earlier. Wood with applied coatings, copper alloy, ferrous metal, Overall: 58 x 31 x 14 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift from the Frum Collection, 1999. Photo © AGO. 99/472

Dawoud Bey, Conjoined Trees and Field, From the series In This Here Place, 2020. Gelatin silver print, Framed: 124.8 × 152.4 × 5.1 cm. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey, Irrigation Ditch, From the series In This Here Place, 2020. Gelatin silver print, Framed: 124.8 × 152.4 × 5.1 cm. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey, Light on the Swamp, From the series In This Here Place, 2020. Gelatin silver print, Frame: 124.8 × 152.4 × 5.1 cm. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey, Swamp, From the series In This Here Place, 2020. Gelatin silver print, Framed: 124.8 × 152.4 × 5.1 cm. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey, Branches, Leaves, and Cabins, From the series In This Here Place, 2020. Gelatin silver print, Framed: 124.8 × 152.4 × 5.1 cm. Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey

About Dawoud Bey

Groundbreaking American artist and MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey examines the Black past and present. His photographs and film installations have been exhibited widely in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe as the subject of numerous major solo exhibitions and retrospectives. Recent exhibitions include Elegy at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (2023–2024) and the New Orleans Museum of Art (2025–2026); Street Portraits at the Denver Art Museum (2024–2025); and An American Project, which was organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art (2020–2022). His upcoming projects include an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (2026) and participation in the Berlin Prize Fellowship (2026) and the Triennial of Photography Hamburg (2026).Elegy (Aperture/VMFA, 2023), a major publication documenting his landscape retrospective at VMFA; Street Portraits (MACK Books, 2021); and Seeing Deeply (University of Texas Press, 2017), a forty-year retrospective monograph. His critical writings on contemporary art and photography have appeared in a range of publications.

The recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including four honorary doctorates, Bey lives and works in Chicago and New York. He is a Critic and alumnus at Yale University and is Professor Emeritus at Columbia College Chicago. He is represented by Sean Kelly Gallery, New York and Los Angeles; Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago; and Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco.

Instagram: @dawoudbey

About the Toronto Biennial of Art:

The Toronto Biennial of Art’s mission is to make contemporary art accessible to everyone. A twelve-week event every two years, the Biennial commissions artists to create new works for a city-wide exhibition in dialogue with Toronto’s diverse local contexts. Year-round public and learning programs bridge Biennials and invite intergenerational audiences to explore the ideas that inspire our events. Building upon past editions and offering new ways of seeing and listening, each Biennial connects people to spark meaningful dialogues and imagine new futures. For more information, visit torontobiennial.org, and on Instagram and Facebook.

Instagram: @torontobiennial

An architectural landmark, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is one of the largest art museums in North America. The AGO Collection of more than 120,000 works of art ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art to significant works by Indigenous and Canadian artists and European masterpieces. The AGO presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs, including solo exhibitions and acquisitions by diverse and underrepresented artists from around the world. When it opens in 2027, the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will present modern and contemporary art from Toronto and the world. With its groundbreaking Annual Pass program, the AGO is one of the most affordable and accessible attractions in the GTA. Visit ago.ca to learn more. The AGO is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts, and generous contributions from AGO Members, donors, and private-sector partners.

Instagram: @agotoronto