Curtis Bay is a community in South Baltimore that has experienced over 100 years of environmental violence and harm as a result of the cumulative impacts of stationary toxic facilities (over 70+ facilities in one community). The city of Baltimore has utilized the land as a dumping ground for heavy industrious and noxious facilities. The exhibit educates the general public about policies, practices, and budgets that have made our state and city officials complicit in ongoing environmental violence. For the past 15 years, Free Your Voice and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT) have been inspiring young people from South Baltimore communities to conduct their own research and utilize data to advocate for systemic change. This youth-designed exhibit (envisioned, designed, and built alongside) architects from Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) features some of the youth visions of environmental toxicity and harm through maps, photography, historic timelines, and interactive standing displays. The exhibit challenges the viewer to imagine green and sustainable alternatives which include worker benefit agreements and to plug into the ongoing advocacy work in the community.

Sponsors include Johns Hopkins University CHARMED Center, Benjamin Franklin Highschool, Towson University (Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice), Morgan State University (Center for Urban Health Equity), South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT), Community of Curtis Bay Association (CCBA), and The Chesapeake Bay Trust Foundation. SB7 Environmental Justice Collaborative’s 2022 grant.

Photos by Ryan Johnson