LaToya Ruby Frazier : "Using Photography for Social Change"

Praised as “one of the strongest artists to emerge in this country this century” by legendary art critic Jerry Saltz, LaToya Ruby Frazier’s groundbreaking work highlights the realities of contemporary America, from post-industrial decline to social and racial injustices.

For more than two decades, Frazier has used photography to document and investigate forgotten narratives of labor, gender and race. Her eye-opening works capture untold stories and histories of marginalized communities and provide a different view of American culture by featuring voices and perspectives traditionally erased from the American narrative.

Frazier’s portfolio includes the work “Flint Is Family,” a five-year chronicle of the water crisis in Flint, MI. Her original photo essay was named one of the “25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II” by The New York Times. Other recent projects include “The Notion of Family,” which chronicles the lives of her family surviving environmental racism in the historic steel mill town of Braddock, PA. “The Last Cruze” explores the devastation wrought by the closure of a General Motors plant in Lordstown, OH. Frazier also captured portraits of Breonna Taylor’s family for Vanity Fair, using her art as an avenue for visual justice and social change.

PARTNERS & SPONSORS: 

O.C. Tanner 

College Of Humanities