Every year the MacArthur Fellowship announces the winners of its $625,000 grant and among the 24 they have chosen for this year is a photographer by the name of LaToya Ruby Frazier. LaToya has been documenting her small hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania for the past 12 years and it has resulted in some very large accolades.The town of Braddock was a small community built on the flourishing steel industry, but as that industry left the small town, it began to crumble and the people living there struggled to live. LaToya, a native of Braddock, experienced this shift first hand and turned to the camera in order to capture the chaos and to make sense of her plight. After 12 years of documenting the towns struggle LaToya has been awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant for her outstanding work. The MacArthur Fellowship has put together a short video interview with LaToya that explores her work and life. You can see more from this series on LaToya Ruby Fraziers website.
The MacArthur Fellowship is a $625,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more. Learn more and explore their stories on social media with the hashtag #MacFellow.
[via Time]
Good for her! Clearly shows that she is putting her sabbatical at SAIC to good use. Perhaps I even get to take a class with her upon her return.
That's a nice way to spend the next five years.
It's a good body of work, and even better that it's got that film thing going for it.