Grandma Ruby, Mom and Me at Mom’s house

LaToya Ruby Frazier, American, born 1982

Share

2005

Gelatin silver print

Edition 2 of 3 + 2 APs

Sheet: 23 7/16 × 17 1/2 in. (59.6 × 44.5 cm)

Frame: 28 3/4 × 24 3/4 in. (73.1 × 62.8 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Hansen Family Acquisition Fund and the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund

2020.26

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

21st century

Object Name

Photograph

Research Area

Photograph

Not on view

Label

This photograph from Frazier’s Notions of Family series uses multiple generations of her family to explore concerns about the post-industrial afterlives of residents of communities around Pittsburgh such as Braddock, Pennsylvania. Grandma Ruby, Mom and Me at Mom’s House features Frazier visually centered in her mother’s sparsely furnished home, with one hand on her mother’s shoulder and one hand on her grandmother’s shoulder. Through these gestures, Frazier is gently tethered to the lineage that helped to make her who she is today. Frazier has said, “It is principally family, both immediate and extended, that holds the key to survival in Braddock, nurturing each other as the world around them crumbles.”

From the 2025 exhibition Visual Kinship, curated by Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography, Dr. Kimberly Juanita Brown, Dr. Thy Phu and Dr. Iyko Day

Course History

ANTH 55, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Spring 2021

ANTH 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Spring 2022

Studio Art 29.01, Photography I, Dawit Petros, Spring 2025

College Course 26.01, What’s in Your Toolbox?, Casey Aldrich and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2025

Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies 65.07, Queer Popular Culture, Eng-Beng Lim, Fall 2025

Exhibition History

Visual Kinship, Lathrop, Jaffe and Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30 - November 29, 2025.

Provenance

Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2020.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu