Life in Baltimore

Life in Baltimore is a juried exhibition that invites artists to reflect on contemporary life in Baltimore—its people, neighborhoods, rhythms, struggles, joys, contradictions, and everyday realities.

Reviving a historic Peale Museum exhibition series from the 1950s and 1960s, Life in Baltimore asks artists to document, interpret, and respond to the city as it is being lived today. Rather than focusing on monuments or architecture alone, this exhibition centers lived experience: community, identity, labor, memory, culture, resilience, and change.

Artists are encouraged to explore Baltimore from the inside out—from intimate personal moments to broader social narratives, from street-level observation to interior emotional landscapes. The exhibition seeks work that captures the complexity of life in the city as experienced by those who live, work, and create here.

Selected works will be exhibited at The Peale, Baltimore’s community museum, and featured in a digital exhibition catalog. Works may be available for purchase during the run of the exhibition, supporting both participating artists and The Peale’s public programs.

Life in Baltimore is part of a broader Peale Museum initiative that includes exhibitions, oral histories, and public storytelling projects focused on contemporary Baltimore life.

Thematic Scope

Artists may explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Daily life in Baltimore neighborhoods
• Community, family, and social bonds
• Labor, care, and survival
• Identity, race, and cultural expression
• Memory, history, and the present moment
• Celebration, grief, humor, and contradiction
• Public space, private life, and the spaces in between

Architecture and landmarks may appear, but only insofar as they support a broader narrative about lived experience rather than serving as the primary subject.

This call is open to 2D and 3D works, including but not limited to:

Installation-based objects must be self-supported and require no wall or ceiling modification. Digital works must be presented as finished physical outputs (e.g., prints, sculptural forms, or fabricated objects). Time-based, interactive, or screen-based media will not be considered.

All submitted works must be suitable for gallery installation and freestanding display within The Peale.