They are white, black, Asian and Hispanic. They are rich, and they are poor. They come from all over the United States.
They are the UF class of 2014.
Forty of them will represent the 6,400-member class in the “Dawoud Bey: First-Year Florida Project” photography exhibition at the Harn Museum of Art, located at Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road.
Photographer Dawoud Bey is taking posed portraits of incoming UF freshmen in an attempt to show that a largely diverse group of young adults is united by their common experience of starting at UF.
Pairs of students are photographed at different locations throughout campus, including dorms, libraries and classrooms.
“On one hand, this is a very small sample of the class of 2014,” said Tom Southall, curator of photography at the Harn Museum. “Ideally, it will also represent the diversity of the class and suggest something about the experience of a freshman — their hopes and fears.”
During his two-week stay in Gainesville Bey will photograph up to 100 students.
The 20 best photographs will be exhibited at the museum from Oct. 5 through Jan. 2. Ten of them will remain in the museum’s permanent collection.
“This will be something very special to the class of 2014, but also people who have graduated 50 years ago will be interested in this slice of life of the 2014 class,” Southall said.
UF freshmen who are interested in having their portrait taken can e-mail photo@harn.ufl.edu. Males are encouraged to participate in order to diversify Bey’s photo subjects, since mainly females have volunteered so far.
