Photojournalist's book chronicles decade of gun violence, activism in Baltimore
BALTIMORE - Recent years of staggering Baltimore City gun violence is certainly a time many would rather soon forget.
A new book documents the past decade of gun violence and activism in Baltimore, while also highlighting and honoring the people trying to stop the violence.
The book, called "How a Summer of Violence Led to a Decade of Activism," is now on shelves.
Each Wednesday on the corner of Greenmount and 33rd streets, you will find Tawanda Jones and others honoring those who died in police custody, like her brother Tyrone West.
Here, a guy in a Baltimore Orioles' cap snaps pictures.
"You don't even know he's there," Jones said. "Like, I call him 'Casper the Friendly Ghost.'"
Casper's real name is Joe Giordano. He's been following Tawanda's activism since 2013.
"You feel a presence of, like, this positive force of energy," Jones said. "Then, all of a sudden, you see him just snapping at a perfect time."
At night, you will often find him on the streets.
"I try to stay as much in the background as possible," Giordano said. "I am just there to document what they're doing."
By day, Giordano and his backward cap are on the top floor of the Baltimore School for the Arts.
"West Wednesdays are right here. This is the 10th anniversary of it," Giordano said.
The photojournalist showed WJZ a layout of his new photo book.
"It was kind of mixing and matching things," Giordano said. "This is South Baltimore. She had found out her son wasn't killed."
The book outlines a decade of activism in Baltimore, starting in the summer of 2013.
"This is right off Pennsylvania Avenue where the Royal Theater is," he said.
The book features 135 photos and three essays.
"The point of the book is not to be exploitive, but to show what Baltimore's anti-gun activists are up against," Giordano said.
A photographer at the time for City Paper, he kept covering grassroots movements with other independent outlets.
"I found myself just keeping with and keeping in contact with the activist movement," Giordano said.
And they let him in.
"Yeah, I forgot about this picture and I remember that day like it was yesterday," said Letrice Gant, from Baltimore Peace Movement.
"If a movement about peace is gonna be poppin', it's got to be just as attractive as violence," added Baltimore Peace Movement Erricka Bridgeford.
Bridgeford is featured in the project.
"I was blessing a block where someone had been killed," Bridgeford said.
Gant joins Bridgeford at homicide scenes to help families heal.
"His images are really powerful, poignant, kind of sad and solemn in a way, but he also captures the joy," Gant said.
"What I saw in those pictures was power," Bridgeford said. "What I saw in those pictures was healing."
Ddante Barksdale, known as "Tater," is one of those activists featured in the project.
He was gunned down in East Baltimore.
"He was killed like two weeks after we took that photo," Barksdale said.
The Safe Streets worker was killed in 2021.
"Oh, it's 'Tater,'" Bridgeford said while wiping off tears.
Bridgeford knew "Tater" as a friend.
"He loved this city," Bridgeford said.
Police are also in the book, but not the main character.
"I didn't want to focus on the police," Giordano said. "This is more about the activists."
Those activists include the 300 Man March, Moms Demand Action and Baltimore Ceasefire, now known as the Peace movement.
"It seems to me that he's really trying to get the emotion of what's happening and the situation and he's trying to get real images of real people," said Hilary Hellerbach, who is also featured in the book.
Giordano partly agrees. He says he's not seeking emotion.
"I just let people do what they do and I take photos," Giordano said.
Giordano just shows up.
"Whenever you see any of Joe's work, you feel raw emotions, because I remember I was in some kind of town hall meeting and he got a tear falling from my face," Tawanda Jones said. "It was beautiful. Like, his work speaks for itself."
Giordano said the decade chronicled in the book should be viewed as hopeful.
"Because people care enough to come on the street and try to stem the gun violence when a lot of people in authority either don't know how or can't," Giordano said.
Profits from the book sales will go to the Peace Movement's work.
"In this book, seeing these pictures, I'm like, 'Oh, if this is what it looks like to people, no wonder why people have so much hope," Bridgeford said.
"Giving us something to reflect on as we move forward," Gant added.
Giordano's hat will stay backwards as the activism moves forward.
"We need to see ourselves through somebody else's lens," Bridgeford said.
