In her photographic, video, and performance work, LaToya Ruby Frazier (Born 1982 in Braddock, PA) addresses issues that range from the personal to the political. Over the course of the last decade, Frazier’s practice has focused on the social, economic, and environmental deterioration of her hometown of Braddock, PA, experienced through the tangible and psychological effects on her immediate family.
Mom Making an Image of Me is part of a 2008 series of double portraits of the artist and her mother posing in the family house in Braddock. Throughout the series, the artist provides minimal visual context—a metal heater or patterned curtains—to give a sense of the domestic space. Both Frazier and her mother are visible only in the mirror propped on the radiator. Between the two women stands the camera, a key third element in this triangulation. Just as Frazier and her mother are framed by the mirror, the image is framed by the room. Through her precise compositions and focus on the individual as well as family, Frazier visualizes complex relationships.
