The LaToya Ruby Frazier photo portrait “Momme Portrait Series (Shadow)" seems to portray the mother figure as oppressive (the artist literally in her shadow), what is the understanding of their relationship?
I can definitely see what you mean, but the artist describes her intention here as presenting the two of them as one, unified in sickness and a struggle to survive. LaToya Ruby Frazier has lupus and her mother, cancer.
Frazier said of this image: "The light cast a shadow that for me foreshadowed a departure." It was taken six months before the loss of her grandmother to the same cancer her mother had been diagnosed with. In Frazier’s hometown of Braddock, PA, an overwhelming amount of industrial pollution has caused high rates of cancer and other illnesses among its residents.
Thank you—that is a very different relationship than I would have thought.