My #MICAphoto students and I went out to photograph the morning after the Baltimore Uprising, to document and bear witness to the tragic events. When we started, we saw lots of communities and volunteers helping each other, cleaning up, pitching in. We saw many stores with broken glass and a CVS that was completely burned out inside, products fused into indistinguishable debris. But amid all of this, there were families with small children helping to sweep broken glass, volunteers passing out garbage bags and water, and more press credentials than I could count. There were community organizers passing out voter registration forms and trying to encourage civic participation.

While we were by North Ave & Pennsylvania Ave, we watched the police mass, from a few officers when we arrived, to 100+ over the span of an hour. This led to them sealing off the block, displacing all those that were trying to help peacefully. The police then proceeded to hold the block - 27 officers standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear - while continuing to stage behind their line. I made several photographs of the complete line before deciding to make individual portraits of the officers as a record of those present and a measure of accountability. Most of the officers did not display badges or nameplates.

The piece is portraits are the 27 officers in sequence from south to north, as they stood blockading North Avenue at Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore on April 28, 2015. Ten selections are reflected on this site and the full piece may be viewed here: http://www.natelarson.com/holding-that-line

Earlier that day, I photographed the Baltimore protests at North Avenue & Pennsylvania Avenue. I was struck by the line of police blockading the street and made a portrait of each of the 27 officers that comprised the human wall, seeking a measure of accountability in the absence of badge numbers or nameplates.

That evening, I went back, and there were 26 citizens forming a human wall, separating the crowd from the police, to protect the crowd from provoking a police response. Someone kept calling out, "Don't give them an excuse to hurt us." My heart was heavy all day but lifted at this spirit of self-sacrifice and generosity.

The full piece consists of portraits of the 22 citizens that gave their permission to be photographed. Ten selections are reflected on this site and the full piece may be viewed here: http://www.natelarson.com/holding-that-line-2

Two days after the Baltimore uprising, I went to North Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. On Tuesday, police in riot gear had locked down the block, creating a human blockade to prevent movement of people and traffic. When I arrived on Wednesday, the street was open and moving, and there were people gathered on each of the four corners.

Baltimore City residents were waiting and watching. The Baltimore Police Department was there, also waiting and watching, but this time in their standard uniforms. The national news media carried on all around, outnumbering the officers, and interviewing those present. Overhearing the conversations, the media was looking for material to reinforce their already formed opinions, and it seemed to have little to do with my city.

Tired of the abstraction of media narratives, I wanted to look carefully and to make portraits of individuals. I asked each BPD officer present if I could make their portrait, and made a portrait of each who consented. I then made portraits of community members who gave their consent. It felt important to put faces to both groups - I'm suspicious of easy narratives and think that the truth is much more complicated.

These photographs are a small way of knowing my city in this difficult time.

National Guardsmen at the Student-Organized Freddie Gray Solidarity Protest, Baltimore, Maryland, April 29, 2015

Law Enforcement Officers at the Freddie Gray Protests, Baltimore, Maryland, April 28-30, 2015

Portraits of the New Baltimore Twilighters Marching Band at the Eighth Annual Boundary Block Party at Pennsylvania Ave and Presstman Streets, Baltimore, Maryland on May 9, 2015. Event produced by Jubilee Arts and the No Boundaries Coalition.

Portraits of Jubilee Arts program participants at the end-of-term celebration, December 2015. Produced in collaboration with Jubilee Arts.

Portraits from West Baltimore, Summer and Fall, 2015

In July 2015, I worked in collaboration with Jubilee Arts and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to make portraits of Baltimore City youth employed in the Art @ Work summer mural program. Jubilee Arts is a non-profit that provides arts classes and other services to the residents of the Sandtown-Winchester, Upton, and surrounding neighborhoods that were at the epicenter of the recent unrest.

The Art @ Work teams were guided by mentor artists and community input to create a series of murals in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. The images in this exhibition are from our time together, during which I built a rapport with both the teams and individuals, and worked with the participants to make their portraits. As I photographed, the images were downloaded from my high-resolution camera to my linked phone, which was shared with the subjects as we discussed the nature of the representation. They would frequently transmit the photographs to their own devices and social platforms. 8x10 prints were distributed to the participants at the conclusion of the project.

This series is a part of an ongoing long-term engagement with the neighborhoods and communities that make up our city. These photographs create a fuller portrait of life in Baltimore than the oversimplification portrayed by the national media in the months after the Uprising.

In July 2015, I worked in collaboration with Jubilee Arts and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts to make portraits of Baltimore City youth employed in the Art @ Work summer mural program. Jubilee Arts is a non-profit that provides arts classes and other services to the residents of the Sandtown-Winchester, Upton, and surrounding neighborhoods that were at the epicenter of the recent unrest.

The Art @ Work teams were guided by mentor artists and community input to create a series of murals in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. The images in this exhibition are from our time together, during which I built a rapport with both the teams and individuals, and worked with the participants to make their portraits. As I photographed, the images were downloaded from my high-resolution camera to my linked phone, which was shared with the subjects as we discussed the nature of the representation. They would frequently transmit the photographs to their own devices and social platforms. 8x10 prints were distributed to the participants at the conclusion of the project.

This series is a part of an ongoing long-term engagement with the neighborhoods and communities that make up our city. These photographs create a fuller portrait of life in Baltimore than the oversimplification portrayed by the national media in the months after the Uprising.