In Pictures: The remnants, ruins & regal beauty of Flint’s Ballenger Hwy neighborhood

FLINT, Michigan — There are parts of Flint most people never see unless they’re driving through on their way to somewhere else. But if you stop long enough—if you actually look—you notice how much life still flickers here in ways that don’t always make headlines. It’s a mix of contradictions: worn wood siding, a harm-reduction box stocked with Narcan declaring that somebody still cares, and a porch with missing boards that might still see morning coffee and afternoon conversation. It’s not polished, but it’s real.

The neighborhood blocks feel like stories layered on top of each other—the big black Victorian whose bones are still proud even while its porch waits to be whole again; the church marquee that insists the Lord hears the cries of the poor; and a stained glass Jesus whose face glows in the dusk like a reminder that hope doesn’t always need words. In Flint, faith isn’t lofty. It’s survival-level. We’re still here even on the days when the city feels like it has been forgotten more times than it has been helped.

And in the middle of it all, art blooms—a mural that spells FLINT in color and portraiture, a living ode to Blackness, softness, beauty, and hometown pride. The wall reads like a love letter from the city, and if you slow down, you can feel it.

Take a look at the photo gallery below that displays Flint’s Ballenger Highway neighborhood, captured through my lens.