Behind Closed Doors

Summers typically mean vacation, especially for the students at Phillips Academy. However, summertime is one of the busiest seasons for the Addison staff. When the museum closes for the month of August, we're still busy working inside offices and storage areas that are behind closed doors and off limits to our visitors. This summer the Addison is fortunate to have a special guest working among us. We invited artist Dawoud Bey to curate one of the five galleries in the upcoming exhibition The Discerning Eye: Five Perspectives on the Addison Collection.

Yesterday Dawoud began his two week residency at the Addison, where he will be working in storage rummaging through our photography collection. Dawoud, curator Allison Kemmerer, Director of Education Julie Bernson and I spent the day discussing his goals for his residency and the idea about his exhibition. Dawoud will be investigating various portraits in the Addison's collection and the role between the sitter and photographer in different settings. However, my brief generalization about the artist's concept is a mere regurgitation of Dawoud's current idea, but things may change as he continues to look, investigate and select photographs for the exhibition. With that being said, Dawoud will be writing an explanatory text for his show that will be more insightful and interesting, especially once you see the art and read the artist's statement alongside each other.

Until then, no more spoilers about his exhibition, but it promises to be an innovative one!