LaToya Ruby Frazier on Lee Friedlander’s Ohio Factory Valley Series

“I can speak through photographs about how I feel about my lived experience in America and pay homage to people who are also everyday working people.”

A photographer finds “healing” in the representation of Black working-class histories.

Photographer and activist LaToya Ruby Frazier sees the legacy of the Black women of America’s working class in Lee Friedlander’s “Ohio Factory Valley” series. Through her personal memories and close observation, these lesser-known photographs become “knockouts” that empower the women they depict.. On the occasion of her timely exhibition “Monuments of Solidarity” at MoMA, Frazier traces the trajectory of documentary photography, from these two inspiring photographs to her approach of collaborative “visual healing.”

In the online edition of MoMA’s ArtSpeaks program, we invite staff members, artists, and special guests to share personal impressions of an artwork in the collection. Here, photographer and activist LaToya Ruby Frazier’s impassioned reflection centers on Lee Friedlander’s Ohio Factory Valley series, which highlights the legacy and contributions of Black working women in America’s Rust Belt. For Frazier, these images, which document these women’s longstanding role in the US workforce, provide “visual healing.” She invites us to explore the thoughtfulness of Friedlander’s photographs, where we find traces of influence on Frazier’s own practice and her approach to photography as a visual storytelling and social-justice device.

Courtesy of: The Museum of Modern Art