New York, NY | Mentor: Rahim Fortune
Based between New York City and his hometown of Baltimore, Dahveed Wilkins is an artist and documentarian with a darkroom based practice. His work centers around traditional photo-documentary and surrealist self-portraiture work with a focus on archiving Black life in western societies.
“Being a Junior Fellow really gave me liberty to challenge myself in different ways across my practice. My mentor would look at work I was making and drop gems of references and resources that enriched my process. Throughout the fellowship I’d have specific questions, whether about writing or editing or even selling, and there was always people to reach out to for solid advice. Through this support, I was able to develop new standards in how I make and think about my work going forward.”
-Dahveed Wilkins | 2026 Junior Fellow
Project Statement
Ova West is an ongoing photographic work documenting Black dispositions in West Baltimore.
In 1970 my great grandmother bought her home in Edmonson Village, a place where my father and I would both have our first memories. Her home has been a space of refuge for three generations of my family, and is the site of memory from which I pivot my documentations of Baltimore.
My process is guided by recollections as I retrace steps from the past to mend parts of myself into the future. I document a collective healing parallel to my own as Baltimore begins to recover from generations of ghettoization, displacement and institutional terrorism. Western neighborhoods between Druid Hill Park and Leakin Park bear the scars of municipal condemnation, yet remain spaces where the community is uplifting of one another. The sight of my old-school camera precedes me and often leads to talk of histories and futures; with silver prints grounding my relationships in lasting shareable objects.
I photograph Black Baltimore during a time when it’s future is most promising yet uncertain; the fragility and resilience shared with similar enclaves worldwide motivates me to weave my homecoming into the city’s archive.
2026 Junior Fellows: Yuhan Cheng | Brayan Enriquez | Claire Kosky | Jacobb Nichol | Avery Norman | Dahveed Wilkins