"Urban Visions"

As I continue to explore the city of Baltimore, I feel like I am becoming more aware of the real city and people that exist outside of the Loyola community. It is hard to take everything in account and fully appreciate the city as a whole, but I guess that is why we are challenged to explore and grow.
For this week’s event analysis, I chose to go to the Julio Art Gallery for the “Urban Visions” exhibit. The exhibit featured the work of Ellis Marsalis III, Andre Chung, Dee Herget, and Tom Lipka. I must admit that I was overwhelmed when I first entered and did not know where to begin looking. I immediately started thinking about the poems that we read in class last week about childhood and flashbacks into mine. I mainly focused on the photography that was presented and I tried to examine them as critical as possible. The photographs depicted life in Baltimore through the eyes of those who live in the more impoverished areas. The artists explored many aspects of life such as school, family, hanging out with friends, standing outside on the corner, and even the violence that these kids are forced to protect themselves against.
I was mainly attracted to the black and white photographs of Ellis Marsalis III. It is very difficult to describe the photographs because I had so many mixed emotions in dealing with them. Many of the people in the works looked content and almost happy with the way life was going. This surprised me because of the areas in which they live. I would think they would be cautious and always alert. But then I realized that their homes are in these areas. These people have adapted and survived in these neighborhoods, therefore they feel comfort and safety. This further made me think of my perception of Baltimore neighborhoods. I took a drive yesterday on my way home from class through a neighborhood off of northern parkway by the park and found myself nervous and wary as to what was going on. I drove down a long windy road and was surprised at what I saw. What I thought was a terrible neighborhood by the rugby field was surprisingly calm and fairly clean. People were outside doing yard work, I saw at least five older brothers walking with younger siblings who just got out of school, and I even saw a little girl riding a bike by herself. No one even really paid any attention to me as I stopped at stop signs.
I felt kind of bad when I got home because I was looking for the negative side that I associate with Baltimore and saw people just trying to make the best out of where they live. I realize that no one wants drugs and violence in their neighborhood, but I feel like sometimes things just go wrong in certain areas. I took mental photographs and many could easily be very similar to the ones in the gallery. Yes, there were some violent ones but the others depicted a normal everyday view of life in Baltimore and life can also be content here.