Barriers and Boundaries

This work focuses on my old neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Rather than photograph the front of row houses, connected by little or no space in between them, I investigated the areas behind the houses, where their various personalities and clues about relationships between neighbors seemed more accessible. These photographs were made while I stood in alleys where I could observe how borders have been set up or torn down, how people had sought and sometimes failed to establish boundaries or erect barriers against an urban environment that could be hostile. Whereas urban centers are usually thought of as densely populated, these images are noticeably absent of people, showing a city in decline or with a fragile sense of how to share spaces that could create community. In 1981, East Baltimore was the subject of a book by Linda Rich titled Neighborhood, A State of Mind, with photographs that depict a sense of patriotism and pride. Though some of the spirit of the "neighborhood" that Rich's book describes still remains, that sense of community has noticeably eroded and whether the spaces in my photographs are claustrophobic or empty, they betray a sense of tension and neglect that are part of the urban landscape of this city.