Black male artists from Baltimore and the Lehigh Valley come together in a powerful exhibition that reclaims identity through memory, imagination, and creative expression.
28 July 2026
Bringing together ten Black male artists from Baltimore and Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, 5 × 5 Baltimore: The Art of Black Men offers a timely meditation on identity, resilience, and the expansive possibilities of Black artistic practice. This exhibition foregrounds a rich dialogue between two regions connected by histories of migration, labour, and cultural transformation, while celebrating the distinct visual languages that emerge from these shared experiences.
Working across painting, photography, abstraction, mixed media, and figurative practice, the participating artists engage questions of belonging, representation, and historical memory. Rather than presenting a singular narrative of Black masculinity, the exhibition embraces complexity, revealing the many ways artists challenge inherited stereotypes, imagine alternative futures, and affirm lived experience through material and image.
A public highlight of the programme is 5 × 5 Baltimore: The Art of Black Men’s Dialogue on Black Art and Identity, taking place on 1 August 2026. Moderated by educator and cultural leader Dr. LaMarr D. Shields, the conversation invites audiences to reflect on art as a site of storytelling, collective memory, and cultural exchange.
Featuring works by Ainsley Burrows, Al Johnson, Anthony Smith Jr., Charles Stonewall, Ernest Shaw, Femi J. Johnson, Jeffrey Kent, Jerry Prettyman, Larry Poncho Brown, and Rigo Peralta, 5 × 5 Baltimore positions Black men not as subjects of fixed narratives, but as cultural architects whose practices continue to shape contemporary artistic discourse.
This exhibition will be on view at the Eubie Blake Cultural Centre until 22 August 2026.
