August 4 – September 29, 2024
Eubie Blake Cultural Center

847 N. Howard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Free Admission
Wednesday–Friday, 1–6pm
Saturday, 11am–3pm

Plan Your Visit


Provocative, insightful, unfiltered. For almost 200 years, Black photographers have used their cameras and creativity to portray Black people “as they see them” and redress the racialized narratives that are common in popular media.

In Baltimore, Black photographers have played a critical role in representing lives too seldom celebrated and too often forgotten. With their images featured in spaces ranging from family photo albums to national publications, these artists embody a tradition of witnessing and storytelling from a Black point of view. Informed by scholars like Deborah Willis, bell hooks, and Stuart Hall and drawing from Sheridan Libraries collections, Bearing Witness explores the ways in which Black photographers intentionally document a complexity of experiences in Black families.

The exhibition highlights the photography of Daisy Brown, John Clark Mayden, I. Henry Phillips Sr., I.H. Webster Phillips III, Brian Pinson, and SHAN Wallace—established and emerging Baltimore artists whose work, spanning some seven decades, reveals how Black folk live, love, struggle, and triumph in their daily lives.

Visit the exhibition website

Family of four standing next to a car
I. Henry Phillips Sr. (American, 1920-1993), Headed to California (detail), c. 1950. Courtesy of the I. Henry Photo Project.
Three seated youth, shown from behind with arms on shoulders
SHAN Wallace (American, born 1991), Kin (detail), 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

Related Events and Programs

Bearing Witness opening reception

Bearing Witness opening reception

August 9th 2024 6:00 PM EDT to 8:00 PM EDT

Join us at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center to celebrate the opening of Bearing Witness: Photographing Black Families in Baltimore.

Artist Panel Discussion for Bearing Witness

Artist Panel Discussion for Bearing Witness

September 5th 2024 7:00 PM EDT to 9:00 PM EDT

Baltimore photographers Daisy Brown, John Clark Mayden, Webster Phillips, Brian Pinson, and SHAN Wallace will discuss their work and themes of black representation as explored inthe exhibition Bearing Witness: Photographing Black Families in Baltimore, on view through September 29 at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center. Register online through Eventbrite

Family Photo Day: Bearing Witness closing event

Family Photo Day: Bearing Witness closing event

September 28th 2024 2:00 PM EDT to 5:00 PM EDT

Join us for the closing event for Bearing Witness: Photographing Black Families in Baltimore with the artists, partners, and curators. The community celebration will include a workshop on preserving family photos, digitization station, and photo studio for family group photos. Register online through Eventbrite


The exhibition is made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

Bearing Witness is organized by Inheritance Baltimore, a Mellon-funded collaboration between the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Sheridan Libraries and University Museums.

The exhibition is co-curated by Raynetta Wiggins-Jackson, Africana Archives Curatorial Fellow, Inheritance Baltimore; Tonika Berkley,
Africana Archivist, Sheridan Libraries, and Co-Director, Inheritance Baltimore Community Archives Program; and Angela Rodgers-Koukoui, Lecturer, University of Maryland College of Information, and Co-Director,  Inheritance Baltimore Community Archives Program.

Additional support is provided by the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center, and Sheridan Libraries Cultural Properties.