Harlem-based artist and photographer Bayeté Ross Smith wants to help the next crop of lawyers to challenge their assumptions about society. As Columbia Law School's inaugural artist-in-residence, Ross Smith will engage students and faculty through his "Art of Justice" project, a series of installations and programs in which he will address "contemporary social, political, and human rights issues while strategically engaging the legal community," according to a news release. "When we interact with human beings we get focused on a specific aspect of who they are and don't think of each other as complete people," Ross Smith said in a video interview for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based McColl Center. "When you ask someone 'what does it mean to be black?', 'what does it mean to be blonde and a woman' there will be millions of different perspectives. Those demographic checkboxes don't really tell you anything aside from what someone looks like," Ross Smith said in the interview. "What makes people unique is less what they look like and more about what they think," Ross Smith said. In addition to photography, Ross Smith's work also includes sculptures, videos and performances. He was chosen from a field of 400 applicants and was awarded a $15,000 grant and an allowance of up to $5,000 to purchase materials and supplies. "Ross Smith has a keen sense of how the arts can be used to help lawyers, law students, legal educators, and legal policymakers understand and address the cultural perspectives that shape our professional practice," said Columbia Law professor Kendall Thomas, who co-chairs the selection committee, in a news release.