Mom Relaxing My Hair 2005

Curator: This gelatin-silver print, titled "Mom Relaxing My Hair," was created in 2005 by LaToya Ruby Frazier. I find the tenderness just radiates from it. What strikes you first? Editor: Definitely the intimacy. The starkness of the black and white gives it this documentary feel, almost like a snapshot, but it’s carefully composed. There’s a shared moment being captured, something routine yet deeply personal. Curator: It is so rooted in lived experience. The scene feels like an embrace. It makes me wonder what other intimate rituals Frazier experienced. There’s such a vulnerability present. What is more intimate than someone doing your hair? Editor: Exactly. And when you situate this within Frazier's larger body of work, it becomes a powerful statement on family, labor, and the Black female experience. The image operates in multiple ways simultaneously: it’s a private moment opened to the public, and an index of broader social realities. Curator: Do you think this is what Frazier meant for viewers to focus on when seeing it? When I stand here I wonder what her mom was thinking or feeling at that very moment. Editor: I'm not sure if it's necessarily about what Frazier “meant,” but rather about the dialogues the image opens up. I mean, we are talking about Black women existing in their lives – something frequently unseen and unheard. I read that her practice is rooted in social realism. It gives the everyday significance. Curator: Oh, it’s realism for sure. There is also the element of fantasy that Frazier includes. The quiet magic of Black women existing with each other. Editor: Absolutely. The image becomes a space for Black women and girls to see themselves represented with care and complexity. And to think that there were no artificial light or digital manipulation present during its creation is incredible! Curator: Absolutely remarkable, isn't it? Makes you want to sit and be still with the photo and with those feelings and just feel for a good while longer. Editor: I agree entirely. Frazier has really given us so much to reflect on in this piece, hasn't she? I feel deeply enriched and invited to do so, in fact.