About J. M.

Baltimore City
I'm a Baltimore native, a part time analog photography teacher at Baltimore School for The Arts and full time photographer. This year, I was the recipient of the Baltimore Office of Promotions and Arts Travel Grant to continue my series, All For Thee This Day, documenting the collapse of the international steel industry, in Eastern Europe. Selections for the project are currently on view at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. My new series of portraits for the series, "A Wound That Never Heals"… more

Shuttered

With my series,  Shuttered, I've been documenting the decline of the International steel industry starting with Sparrow's Point for the past 15 years. The people are tied to the landscape and the landscape tied to steel for over a century. With the president's new tariffs, something Bush tried in 2002 to disastrous results, I've started to revisit steel towns and their residents and retirees. This series is unpublished and is an national project. In 2019, I received a Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts travel grant to continue the project in Eastern Europe. Over the past year, I've travelled to the UK and the "Rust Belt" of America to work on the project. The Baltimore portion of the project is featured in a solo  show running at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. My book, Shuttered, raised over $2000 for the Baltimore Museum of Industry when published this year.

"These are they who build thy houses, weave thy raiment, win thy wheat, smooth the rugged, fill the barren, turn bitter to sweet. All for thee this day? and ever. What reward for them is meet?"-Morris, March of the Workers.
  • DSC_0009.JPG
    DSC_0009.JPG
    Steel Mill morning, 2009.
  • apete.JPG
    apete.JPG
    Pete, a retired steelworker at his social club, The Moose, in Baltimore.
  • Retiree and her flag
    Retiree and her flag
    Elizabeth is handed a flag she made. She passed away shortly after this photo was taken
  • Former Beth Steel Headquarters Sparrows Point
    Former Beth Steel Headquarters Sparrows Point
    The demolished Beth Steel HQ in Dundalk. 1,200 people used to work there.
  • Victims of drug adddiction memorialized
    Victims of drug adddiction memorialized
    A house near the former Beth Steel Mill erected crossed for victims of opioid addiction
  • DSC_9462.jpg
    DSC_9462.jpg
    Abandoned mill in Wheeling West Virginia
  • redcarpano8.jpg
    redcarpano8.jpg
    Shuttered buildings in Redcar, a town in Yorkshire UK who's mill was closed overnight in 2012
  • UK005-Recovered.jpg
    UK005-Recovered.jpg
    A raven perched on a fence around the shuttered mill in Redcar, UK.
  • DSC_6155.jpg
    DSC_6155.jpg
    Former steel hauling horses in Redcar, UK. The horses used to haul ore to the mills from the fields.
  • Bill.jpg
    Bill.jpg
    Portrait of William Bordeau, a Mohican who retired from Beth Steel in Baltimore and helped build the Bay Bridge. He wears a bonnet he made when he first came to Baltimore in the 50s.