A Beautiful Ghetto

Description

80-100 black and white photographs Devin Allen became a viral sensation when his photo from the 2015 Baltimore uprising landed on the cover of Time. Many photos were initially featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time. Allen is one of the first amateur photographers to have a photo featured on the cover of Time. Allen has earned the distinction of being one of the Top 50 photographers in the country according to Time. Hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons donated $20,000 to Allen to teach young people photography Underarmour contracted Allen to take photos of basketball player Steph Curry during a tour of Asia in 2015. Instagram featured Allen's photos when they launched their new app design in 2016.

Devin Allen was born and raised in West Baltimore. He gained national attention when his photograph of the Baltimore Uprising was published on the cover of Time in May 2015 -- only the third time the work of an amateur photographer had been featured. His photographs have also appeared in New York Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Aperture, and in the permanent collections of the National Museum of African American History & Culture, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. He is the founder of Through Their Eyes, a youth photography educational program, and the winner of the 2017 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship.

"Devin Allen 's work demonstrates a connection between resistance as a daily activity, a way of life in the ghetto, and resistance as a political act, as played out in the streets last spring. He documents resistance without judgment, without asking the usual questions that outsiders might: Is it justified? Is it effective? Is it legal? Resistance is represented not as a tactic, but as a fundamental aspect of life." --Washington Post "Devin Allen could be the Gordon Parks of his generation." --NBC BLK "Devin Allen's photographs paint a picture not only of the protests themselves but also of the ups and downs of everyday life in Baltimore. The collection reenvisions the meaning of the term "ghetto," showing vibrancy within a racially divided city." --New York Magazine "Reminiscent of the work produced by the late Gordon Parks." --Ebony "Allen's photographs--which capture strength and beauty, as well as disparity and decay--transport viewers through the protests following the death of Freddie Gray and into the streets and lives of the people of West Baltimore where he grew up." --Baltimore Magazine "The cumulative effect of Allen 's photographs is of a city that 's lively, arresting and -- against the odds -- undeniably gorgeous." --Baltimore Sun "Devin Allen has compiled his poignant and sincere images of the real Baltimoreans who are often mischaracterized or neglected in the city's narrative for his first book. A Beautiful Ghetto captures the essence of the city before, during, and after the Baltimore Uprising." --Baltimore City Paper "Gorgeous." --Cassius