Class Pictures

With its sometimes humorous, often painful and always poignant reminders of the awkward cusp of adulthood, Dawoud Bey's "Class Pictures" at the Milwaukee Art Museum offers a glimpse into the lives of 40 high-school students from across the country, photographed between 2003 and 2006. Each is presented as a collaboration between the student and Bey, the image accompanied by the student's personal statement in his or her own words. Bey's students are candid without hubris. Though they hail from dramatically different backgrounds, Bey conceals this information from his viewers in the gallery, photographing his subjects against anonymous classroom backdrops. For the curious, the exhibition catalog contains the students' geographic and academic origins.