Bayeté Ross Smith received his undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University and his MFA from the California College of the Arts. Originally a photojournalist, Bayeté's work has been featured at the Goethe Institute in Accra, Ghana, the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, in Warsaw, Poland, the Leica Gallery and Rush Arts Gallery in New York, and with the San Francisco Arts Commission, at City Hall in San Francisco. Bayeté was awarded a Kala Arts Fellowship in 2008 and a residency at Can Serrat International Art Center in Barcelona, Spain. His work has been exhibited through out the U.S. and internationally. Bayeté's artwork address identity influenced by current events including what it means to be a minority in the United States, gun ownership, and growing up as a young African American man.