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Catalyst
City People
In this section
October 7, 2019 – March 1, 2020
The George Peabody Library
Admission is free.
Exhibit Gallery Hours
Tuesday – Thursday, 10am – 5pm
Friday, 10am – 3pm
Saturday, 10am – 1pm
Sunday, 1 – 5pm
Closed Mondays, November 28 – 29 (Thanksgiving), and
December 22 – January 3 (Peabody campus winter break)
City People: Black Baltimore in the Photographs of John Clark Mayden presents over fifty of the artist’s black-and-white street portraits taken since the 1970s, many on view for the first time. These photographs capture the ordinary joys and sorrows, quiet moments, and daily realities of Baltimore’s African American neighborhoods: kids on their bikes and roller skates, old timers catching a breeze on their front stoops, busy people striding through the snow, tired people taking a break. Through careful observation and local understanding, Mayden lays bare the beauty and heartbreak of everyday life, Black life, in an American city.
John Clark Mayden grew up and attended school in West Baltimore and began his career as a photographer at a local television station. He earned his B.A. in Politics and Fine Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore School of Law. His work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Walters Art Museum, the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, among other venues.
Related Events
City of Neighborhoods Celebration
February 23, 1:00 – 5:00pm
Meet the artist, John Clark Mayden, and celebrate Baltimore’s historically Black neighborhoods with performances by Lady Brion, David Fakunle, Kondwani Fidel, and Writers in the Baltimore Schools, with artwork by youth photographers. Make your own neighborhood map and participate in our open mic. Listen to local oral history recordings–and record your own neighborhood story with the Peale Center’s Be Here: Baltimore.
Schedule
| 1:00–2:30 pm
Family Activities |
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| 2:30–4:00 pm
Performances and open mic |
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| 4:15–5:00pm
Screening and Q&A |
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The event is sponsored by the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center at the Sheridan Libraries, the Billie Holiday Project for Liberation Arts, and the Center for Social Concern.
This exhibition draws primarily from the John Clark Mayden Collection, a recent gift to Johns Hopkins University through the Africana Archives Initiative, a partnership between the Billie Holiday Project for Liberation Arts and the Sheridan Libraries. We thank the Mayden family for this significant and transformative donation.
The exhibition is made possible by generous support from contributors to the annual fund of the Sheridan Libraries. We also thank donors to the Inclusive Baltimore Fund, which supports these and related collection-building efforts, and our programming partners, the Billie Holiday Project and the Center for Social Concern.