I started to see the graffiti, "R.I.P." everywhere I went in Baltimore. I went past one 2 blocks away from where I lived, it was on a wall on the corner of Whitelock, and Druid Hill Avenue, "R.I.P. TROY." That is when I decided to start recording them photographically. I began asking people, showing them R.I.P. on a piece of paper, "Have you seen this anywhere?" Many said NO, right there in their own neighborhood on the walls, and people were not seeing them. I did not want to be alone viewing this madness.

Statistics of Baltimore Maryland, since 1990


  • Population drop: 100,000

  • Houses demolished: 50,000

  • Elementary school reading grade level: Low

  • HIV/AIDS: High

  • Heroin addiction: High

  • Murder rate of approximately 300 per year

It is this murder rate as manifest through the graffiti "R.I.P." that I have been documenting since 1999.


From the time of sitting next to my mother on the NY Subway, feet dangling off the edge of straw seats, ceiling fans turning, and the endless supply of every type of face parading before me, I enjoyed LOOKING!
All of my relatives expressed themselves audibly, or visually. Painters, Sculptors, Designers, players of violin, piano, and wind instruments. I loved LISTENING!
I found myself visiting Raleigh, North Carolina in the mid 50's to see my Uncle, who was Professor of Design at N.C. State University. It was the first time I saw, 4 bathrooms, and 2 water fountains. I never thought in terms of, 2 kinds of MEN, and 2 kinds of WOMEN. I never thought of two different supplies of, WATER. I looked at the signs, the plastic engraved ones, the brass etched ones. I thought about the machines that made them, the people operating those machines, the spelling out of words:"W-H-I-T-E M-E-N", "COLORED MEN", "COLORED WOMEN". The drilling of the holes, the person screwing the signs to the door, mounting them to the water fountain. Days later I saw new signs on two fountains in the Sears and Roebuck, downtown Raleigh: "MEN" and "GENTLEMEN". I hated HATRED!
It was more as, not understanding the thought process behind it all. But there I was, LOOKING at it, wondering, was I the only one seeing it? Back in Manhattan, we had 2 bathrooms, 1 water fountain. Later I came to understand the the thought process was not unique to North Carolina in the 50's, but everywhere, just not as that graphic. The same without the 'Signs'.
I returned to NYC, to Junior High School, to Eisenhower's February, 1955, "Brotherhood Week". There was a Poster competition for the Week. I depicted a traditional movie theatre, bright Marquee, carpeting, ticket booth, and movie posters. The theatre was bordered with a sidewalk out front, and an alley on the side. The alley wall I did in charcoal grey with a single door lite with a single yellow light bulb illuminating a sign: "COLORED". I was told by my Art teacher that it would not be accepted, because that "Was not Brotherhood", I responded, I know.
I have been involved in photography 50 years. The joy is in the seeing, story telling, assembling. Years ago I heard a woman describe, define, DOCUMENTARY: " The function of a documentary is not to make a court case, Thats the function of the courts. The function is to raise a reasonable doubt that perhaps the world works in a slightly different way then the way in which you had previously perceived that it did."
In 2004 I wrote, We must hold the mirror up, there should be no bliss to those who choose to ignore.

This is a world wide condition, and not difficult to understand when we look at the examples, the teachings, and the chaos available to us. When governments kill their enemies, the people will sometimes kill theirs. We have become insensitive and distant with ourselves, our families, surroundings, and the world. We don't recognize Peace, harmony, the natural world. We haven't learned from the ancestors, the elders. No history, no past, no past, no future. We look to overpower, and yet feel we have no power, we are entertained by "REALITY" shows that are illusions, and true reality, we don't see. I have been looking at the City of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, US for years, and its murder rate, and conditions. I have recorded my observations of the past 12 years, because I wasn't finding anyone that was seeing what I was seeing. Ignorance is NOT bliss.

Law enforcement bring no peace,
courts can bring no justice.

The markets "Super", got no food,
6, 11, News, on just for us.

The Guiding Light is all but dim,
billboards, posters, bright.

Papers tell us what to do,
but all we do is fight. ...........Peter Barry

  • Body-more
    Body-more
    We are storytellers, observers, mirror holders, and provocateurs of thought. I once wrote, "we must hold the mirror up, there should be no bliss to those who choose to ignore." This portfolio is part of a larger body,
  • Tombstone
    Tombstone
    The tombstone shape is often used. I have seen rows of 3,4, and 5, each bearing a different name on the same wall.
  • Big Yak
    Big Yak
    Westside B'more, over the years I have seen this and other walls bear different names at diferent times, some added to, at other times erased clean, and started again with a new dead person. I have this wall in 4 different forms, over a span of years.
  • Gun
    Gun
    Guns are also a common symbol, of all varieties
  • Man under
    Man under
    This gave me the feeling of life and death, above ground, and underground. Of calling out, and being quiet. Signs and symbols, and what do we see?
  • Fuck wit us
    Fuck wit us
    In the thousand plus slides I have, many containing messages, I call these, Utterances'
  • Ricky's alter
    Ricky's alter
    Pouring Libations. Port St. & Lafayette. I visited this corner over a long period of time, and saw, and recorded the evolution of this 'bottle alter'. It started at the corner of the building, and over time grew to spell out Ricky's name in bottles.
  • Eli
    Eli
    This is why I do this, to call out to the deaf, and to shake the dumbed.
  • White out
    White out
    Is this how we make it go away?
  • Snow bottle alter, pouring libations
    Snow bottle alter, pouring libations
    The tradition is for a person that knew the person that died, to pour a small amount of the bottled drink on the ground, and then drink the remainder. The empty bottle is then placed on the ground.

    Pouring Libations:

    a. The pouring of a liquid offering as a religious ritual.

    b, an act of pouring a liquid as a sacrifice (as to a deity)

    ...In hip-hop culture, libation has taken the form of pouring a small amount of liquor onto the ground in remembrance of ancestors or friends who have died. The liquid is poured onto the ground before the first sip is taken. Hence, the famous quote: "This is for my (dead) homies".

    ...In some African cultures, especially in West and Central Africa, the libation ritual of pouring a drink or water to the â??Gods of our forefathersâ? is an essential religious and ceremonial tradition. The ritual is generally performed, as part of a ceremony or prayer, by an elder in the village or gathering. The drink is poured out of a native drinking cup owned by the elder or fore-parent, and the cup is made of some traditional artifact such as a gourd, animal horn, wood carving or other material. Although water may be used, the drink is usually some traditional wine (e.g. palm wine), and the libation ritual is accompanied by some traditional incantation or invocation of spirits.

    ...A libation (spondee in Greek) is a ritual pouring of a drink as an offering to a god. It was common in the religions of antiquity, including Judaism:

    ..."And Jacob set up a Pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a Pillar of Stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it". (Genesis 35:14)

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