“This Is the Truth”: LaToya Ruby Frazier Speaks about Art and Social Justice
Guggenheim Museum
April 27, 2018
by Jane Lerner
Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier is a social documentarian whose body of work directly addresses injustice, inequality, and our deepest humanity. A professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a passionate activist and advocate, her video, performance, and photography projects focus on the realities of working-class and impoverished communities. Frazier grew up in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a Rust Belt town outside of Pittsburgh, where she maintains deep roots. Her best-known project, The Notion of Family, is a 14-year-long series of portraits of a hometown long in decline, evidence of a system stacked against its inhabitants. These are intimate and affecting photos of her own family that tell a larger, longer story of racism and disenfranchisement in America.
A photograph from The Notion of Family series is part of the Guggenheim Museum’s permanent collection, and Frazier has been awarded many important prizes, including the MacArthur “genius grant.” Yet, the artist says, “No matter how many accolades or awards I have, I’m not safe because of what I look like and represent in this country.” For a recent talk with the Guggenheim’s Photography Council and Patrons Circle at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in Harlem, Frazier guided the group through the three floors of her first New York solo show. Here, we share a few of her powerful thoughts from that visit—on her work and life, her politics, her family and friends, and her deep commitment to social documentary work and social justice.
Courtesy of: Guggenheim Museum
