If we ever forget that we are products of our environment, the work of Latoya Ruby Frazier reminds us otherwise. Latoya’s work points a lens on Braddock, PA a suburb of Pittsburg, one which is still reeling from hard times. The area’s population fell from 28,000 to about 4,500 as local steel mills closed in the early 1980s. The ongoing exit of other eemployers and residents continues to shake the community’s cohesion. Today, about 2,500 live there.
Her work is on exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston until Oct. 12. The show includes a series of black-and-white photographs and videos of life in her hometown of Braddock, PA. told through the perspective of three people who lived and grew up there: her grandmother, her mother and herself. Each grew up in Braddock under different times. Her mother grew up there in the 1960s, when the region was undergoing the segregation and the turbulence of the civil rights movement.
LaToya grew up there in the 1980s, when the community was torn apart by the abandonment of its primary industry, steel and the area was largely forgotten by state government. “It actually looked like a third-world country,” she said in one of the interviews posted about the exhibit. Braddock was also a front line witness to the seedier side of the war on drugs. Art offered her an escape from poverty and she focused her attention and energy on school.
LaToya is a compassionate photographer and multi media artist. Her work is both self portraiture and social commentary. It’s not just a depiction of her world, but a clear call for change. She has studied social documentary, particularly works by Gordon Parks, Dorthea Lange, Lewis Hines and Walker Evans, all of whom showed how photography can change perceptions.
Dorothea Lange’s depiction of Florence Owens Thompson (in the iconic image “Migrant Mother”) gave LaToya insight on what she could do with her own camera. In addition, she was struck and inspired by the passion of Dorthea Lange. Based on these ideas, she used herself as a subject and an illustration of Braddock and the changes it has undergone. In one paired video, LaToya depicts herself breathing next to the industrial scene of former steel mills in the area.
In another video, LaToya protests the 2010 ad campaign from Levi’s, which used the town of Braddock as part of its “Go Forth” marketing campaign. LaToya and many other residents did not like how the town was portrayed as an urban playground to sell denim blue jeans. Another series of photographs show locals protesting the closure of Braddock’s last community hospital in January 2010, which was the largest local employer at the time. The lack of local healthcare options is the latest in a series of blows to the community.
The toxic environment within Braddock is a clear subtext through a large portion of her work, one which has a direct impact on the lives of the people who live there. LaToya’s grandmother died from Pancreatic cancer, and her wake was featured in part of the exhibit. Her mother also fights cancer and she suffers from Lupus, all consequences of the environment in which they lived.
Her work is on display through October at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Samples can be seen here. LaToya’s own webpage is here.