SunSpot sTudios x Mare Residency 2020 is the second annual collaboration between SunSpot sTudios founded by mTkalla Keaton and Mare Residency founded by curator Tiffany Ward. Currently, SunSpot sTudios Baltimore exists as a site of collaboration and support for artists residing and visiting Baltimore City. Mare Residency is a nomadic initiative to develop artistic practices and connect artists throughout the African diaspora in the Americas. Mare Residency director Ward partners with existing spaces in cities that are important in the African diaspora--like Baltimore. The Fall 2020 residency will include African-American Baltimore native artist Asha Jamila Holmes, Afro-Brazilian artist Bia Rodrigues of Recife, Brazil and Afro-Caribbean artist Jazmine Hayes of New York. Holmes, Hayes, and Rodrigues similarly work with photography, installation, new media, and technology to explore the connections between internet culture, colonialism, Black legacy, and Black femininity.

This year’s residency will culminate with an exhibition at the newly launched Black Women's Museum as well as a publication to be released in 2021. The artists will use their experience in Baltimore during the residency to develop an installation alongside their own work that addresses their shared themes of memory, technology, and Black history.

One of the 2019 artists-in-residence, Baltimore native Jerrell Gibbs, spoke in a documentary made about the inaugural SunSpot sTudios x Mare Residency collaboration about how the program’s focus on highlighting Baltimore helped renew his appreciation for his hometown.