City Hall Galleries

• Location: The Mayor's Gallery, 5th Floor Boston City Hall
• Dates: April 18 - May 30, 2023

Keith Maddy holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with distinction from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Maddy was awarded a Fellowship in 2022 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council; the 2019 People’s Choice Award, Young Masters Art Prize at Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, U.K.; was a 2017 grant recipient from the Artist’s Resource Trust; and received a 2016 Finalist award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.  He has been recognized by the International Art Critics Association for the exhibit Surrounded at the Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville, in which he both participated and co-curated. He works out of the historic Fenway Studios in Boston and has exhibited extensively in the greater Boston area and throughout New England, and is in private collections globally, including Fidelity Investments and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As a child, coloring books, filled with characters frozen mid-action on the page, were a retreat for me from the outside world. They offered an inner sanctuary of unfettered imagination where play and adventure, and the joy of coloring and mark making were intertwined. As an artist I continue to be drawn to this place and am inspired by these vintage materials to delve deeper; extracting and repurposing them to be shared in a new light with new meaning.

In this process I explore the concept of collage and its intersections with drawing and painting. Meticulously hand-cut outlines of figures and shapes from vintage children’s books, unaltered in any way, an x-acto knife, scissors and glue are the materials. Work from 2016-2019 concentrated on the aggregate of cut imagery, like the dense construction of a nest. From 2019 to the present, that has frayed apart, opening up and exposing full or near full cutouts and backdrops relaying a stronger narrative, clearer associations, humor, play, movement and story telling.

• Location: 3rd Floor Lobby Steps, Boston City Hall
• Dates: March 20 - April 30, 2023

In 2023, Roxbury Community College (RCC) will celebrate 50 years of serving the Greater-Boston community. 

The first event of RCC’s 50th Anniversary year is the Celebration of RCC Pioneers, honoring the individuals who played an integral role in RCC’s success over the past 50 years. This traveling exhibit of portraits will highlight the collective energy and activism of the Roxbury community who came together 50 years ago to fight for an institution of higher learning within their community.

There are countless individuals who have contributed to the success of the college over the last 50 years. In fall 2022, RCC invited the global community to help select and honor 49 individuals to be honored as Pioneers. To be considered, the nominee must have demonstrated a significant contribution to RCC over the last 50 years. These RCC pioneers will not only be honored but more importantly the history and legacy of RCC will be documented and made visible throughout Greater Boston. This celebration of RCC's pioneers reflects the 50th anniversary themes: Respecting Our Heritage, Cultivating Leaders, and Creating Change. Photos by Lou Jones and Phuong Tang.

• Location: 3rd Floor Mezzanine, Boston City Hall
• Dates: Ongoing

We Belong is a light-based public art installation with the intent to promote ideas of belonging and inclusion among communities in Boston. In LED neon, the work forms the text “We Belong – here – together – guided by the same stars” in a circular format, with a constellation that maps and connects Boston’s neighborhoods.

With the support of a City of Boston Transformative Public Art grant, the installation will travel to multiple Boston neighborhoods in 2022-2023, beginning with the East Boston Social Centers from July-September 2022. Local residents are invited to participate in the project by sharing what the concept of “belonging” means to them.

Yu-Wen Wu is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Boston. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Wu’s subjectivity as an immigrant is central to her artwork. Arriving in the United States at an early age, her experiences have shaped her work in areas of migration—examining issues of displacement, arrival, assimilation, and the shape of identity in a new country. Passionate about data, mapping, and its storytelling, Wu’s work lies at the crossroads of art, science, politics, and social issues. Her wide range of projects include large-scale drawings, sculpture, site- specific video installations, community-engaged practices, and public art. Wu has been awarded numerous grants, exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is included in several private and public collections.

The Mayor's Poetry Program is an annual program in which Boston residents are invited to submit poems to be displayed throughout City Hall and in an online gallery for one year. The theme for 2023, selected by Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola, was "Love".

Read the 2023 Poems

• Happening virtually

Artist Sophia Ainslie brightened up the eighth floor of City Hall with a new mural this past summer. As an extension of her project, she documented the reactions of City employees who walked by, and took photos of them with the mural.