Colby Deal
Colby Deal (b. 1988) is a photographic artist born and raised in Houston, Texas, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from The University of Houston. He is an alumni of Project Row Houses residency, Red Line Contemporary Art Center residency in Denver, Colorado, and has recently been awarded an exhibition at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, as well as an invitation to the 2021 Whitney Biennial in New York. Within his practice, he explores the culmination of elements of the psychological environment as well as the physical. He shows the dynamic range of family, community, and the individual by combining street photography and portraiture to capture vibrant communities. In the recent years, he has incorporated the medium of sculpture and public art as a means of preserving cultural characteristics that are being erased and positively influencing his community and others alike. Deal is directly inspired by his upbringing through getting to see his family’s photographs that were mostly taken by his father. This appreciation for slowing down and concentrating on photographing what’s right in front of him, “The Now,” has led him to be more in touch with using analog photography.