Ben Marcin: The Holdouts centers on places that persist at the edges of visibility—houses and encampments that remain, resist, or quietly fade in and around Baltimore and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The debut photobook gathers three distinct bodies of work: solitary row houses that somehow escaped demolition in the inner city; abandoned farmhouses where the last generations have died or moved away; and temporary homeless camps that rarely last more than a year before being cleared or dispersed.
The title borrows from the real-estate term “holdout,” used for owners who refuse to sell to developers, even at the cost of delaying or reshaping large projects. Marcin’s subjects are not literal examples of that practice, yet they capture a broader sense of refusal and endurance. Some buildings stand empty, windows boarded or broken, while others show signs of ongoing occupation—curtains in the windows, a satellite dish, a swept stoop. The encampments, made from tarps, pallets, and scavenged materials, speak to another kind of holding out: people insisting on a place to live in a city that often offers none.
Marcin has photographed the places where people live for nearly forty years, and in this work he turns that long attention to his home state. The pictures reflect a deep familiarity with Baltimore’s vernacular architecture and the rural landscape of the Eastern Shore. Straight-on views and careful framing underscore how isolated these structures have become from their surroundings, whether hemmed in by vacant lots and new development or standing alone in open fields.
The Holdouts functions as more than a survey of abandoned dwellings. It reads as a study of history, memory, and marginalisation, tracing what happens when communities erode and people are left behind. By focusing on these stubborn, fragile sites, Marcin offers a clear-eyed look at how time, policy, and economics leave their mark on the idea of home—and on those who continue to hold out, one way or another.
Ben Marcin: The Holdouts
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Author: Ben Marcin
Publisher: GOST Books
Publication Date:
August 2026
Print Length: 144 pages
Language: English
Price: paid
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