The role of Black people throughout history has often been reduced and excluded, with programs committed to focusing on Black history exclusively coming under fire in states like Florida, Arkansas and most recently South Carolina banning/restricting AP African American Studies.
Throughout her works, artist and activist LaToya Ruby Frazier aims to combat such erasure.
“For this reason, it is incumbent upon me to resist—one photograph at a time, one photo essay at a time, one body of work at a time, one book at a time, one workers’ monument at a time—historical erasure and historical amnesia,” Frazier said.
She is committed to presenting and preserving stories and representations of labor, race, and gender in a post-industrial world in “LaToya Ruby Frazier: Monuments of Solidarity,” currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in the Robert Menschel Galleries.
A series of photographs, moving images, and text bring to life Frazier’s message of the celebration of “the expressions of creativity, mutual support, and intergenerational collaboration that persist in light of these denials of fundamental labor, human, and civil rights.”
When you first enter the exhibition, you’re greeted by several compositions in black and white, ranging from seemingly mundane objects like a recliner or a refrigerator. But upon closer inspection, there is more to the images than that. The images capture the mundanity of life and things of significance to her—the recliner dubbed as “Grandma Ruby’s” is well-loved and “Grandma Ruby’s Refrigerator” is littered with pictures and magnets of various childhood and family photos.
Apart from the more personal photographs from Frazier’s collaborative “Notion of Family” series, she also depicts the crumbling infrastructure she’s seen in her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania in pieces such as “Fifth Street Tavern and U.P.M.C. Braddock Hospital on Braddock Avenue,” which shows the destruction and remains of the town’s only hospital.
Similarly in “Rally to Protest at UPMC East,” she sheds light on the struggles within her community with the depiction of the protests against the construction of a new hospital, seen by residents as a means of prioritizing the healthcare of more suburban, well-off communities rather than that of the town’s Black and Brown residents.
Through these photographs and the exhibition, Frazier both highlights and prioritizes the voices and stories of Black and Brown people within her community, ultimately preserving their perspectives in history in a way that has often been overlooked.
“LaToya Ruby Frazier: Monuments of Solidarity” will be on display at the MoMa until Sept. 7. It is worth the visit not only because of its message but also for the blends of photography and videography displayed. For more info, visit www.moma.org.