Renowned Photographer, Video Artist and Advocate LaToya Ruby Frazier to Speak at Case in January

Photographer, visual artist and advocate LaToya Ruby Frazier uses photography/videography and “her insight” to “capture and explore social inequality and historical change in the postindustrial age.” In The Atlantic’s 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. issue, marking the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination in Memphis, she used a helicopter and aerial photography techniques to capture how that city, Baltimore and Chicago have reacted to decades of oppression.

Frazier, an associate professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will serve as the headline speaker for the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation at Case Western Reserve University. She’ll speak at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18, in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Ballroom at the Tinkham Veale University Center.

“Each day, we’re bombarded by images: on billboards, on screens, in schools and in our bedrooms,” she says in a press release announcing her appearance. “And these images, largely corporate in origin, carry power—power to shape, control, and constrain—even when they offer a fantasy, or an outright lie.”

Each year, Case Western Reserve honors King with a celebration that includes workshops, films, panel discussions and acclaimed speakers. This year’s theme is “Through the Lens of our Stories: The King Legacy Today.”

“This year's speaker inspires us to approach the celebration of Dr. King's legacy from a new perspective — through the arts, through photography and through our stories about ourselves, our communities and our nation,” says Marilyn Sanders Mobley, vice president for Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity and professor of English and African American Studies. “It has never been more important for all of us to explore how we show up in our stories and in the current struggle for justice and equality than it is now.”

Admission is free, but registration is requested online. Tickets will not be issued, and seating is first-come, first-served. A light reception will follow Frazier's talk.