August 14, 2024
BMA to Open LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Acclaimed Installation More Than Conquerors in November 2024
This is the first time the artwork celebrating Baltimore’s Community Health Workers will be shown in the community that inspired it
BALTIMORE, MD (August 14, 2024)—The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today the November opening of LaToya Ruby Frazier’s acclaimed installation More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022. Featuring a series of portraits and related narratives mounted on 18 socially distanced, stainless-steel IV poles, the large-scale installation captures and celebrates the essential work of community health workers in Baltimore during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Powerful and evocative, the installation monumentalizes the Community Health Workers’ efforts and offers an alternative approach to monument-making that challenges us to consider the nature of how and who we honor. The work was originally commissioned for the 58th Carnegie International, where it won the Carnegie Prize.
The BMA acquired More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland 2021-2022 in spring 2023, with the generous support of the Glenstone Museum, and its forthcoming presentation marks the first time that it will go on view at the museum and in Baltimore. Open from November 3, 2024 through March 23, 2025, the installation is part of Turn Again to the Earth, a series of initiatives unfolding at the BMA focused on modeling commitments to sustainability and fostering dialogue about environmental issues. Turn Again to the Earth includes 10 exhibitions, the development of the BMA’s sustainability plan, and a Baltimore city-wide eco-challenge.
“We are thrilled to launch the exhibition portion of Turn Again to the Earth with the presentation of LaToya Ruby Frazier’s compelling and deeply resonant installation More Than Conquerors. The presentation is a singular opportunity to honor some of Baltimore’s most important and under-sung heroes in our museum and to consider the complex relationships between environment, health, and social inequities,” said Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Wagner Wallis Director. “We look forward to engaging our audiences with LaToya’s incredible artistry, to celebrating the everyday stories in our community, and to spurring conversations about timely issues that impact our lives.”
More Than Conquerors is an outgrowth of Frazier’s long-standing relationship with Dr. Lisa Cooper, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health and Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity. The two first connected during a 2015 conversation hosted by The Contemporary and the Baltimore School for the Arts that explored the power of art, science, and medicine to address environmental racism. Frazier was awarded a commission for the 58th Carnegie International during the pandemic and when she experienced an incident of medical injustice while trying to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination, she became inspired to develop a project that both revealed the depth of healthcare inequity and celebrated those individuals on the frontlines working for change.
Since the 1970s, Community Health Workers (CHWs) have served as an essential resource to underserved communities, helping individuals overcome challenges to healthcare access and providing advocacy in discussions with those working in healthcare systems and state health departments. CHWs played a critical part in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, sharing information, encouraging acceptance of the treatment, and providing access and support. Despite their importance within communities in Baltimore and cities across the country, CHWs were among the unsung heroes of the pandemic and their daily efforts were necessary to ensure medical justice and healthcare equity. With the support of practitioners and educators at Johns Hopkins University as well as other healthcare advocates, Frazier connected with Tiffany Scott, co-founder and Chair of the Maryland Community Health Worker Association, and a group of CHWs actively involved in vaccination efforts between 2020 and 2021. More Than Conquerors reveals their portraits, stories, and voices, creating a poignant monument to their tireless efforts and recognizing their invaluable contributions to the lives of countless people and the health of many communities.
Collaborators
Community Health Workers: La Kerry B. Dawson, Tracy Barnes-Malone, Karen Dunston, Kenya Ferguson, Griselda Funn, Erica Hamlett, Donnie Missouri, Veda Moore, Kendra N. Lindsey, Evelyn Nicholson, Helen Owhonda, Gregory Rogers, Wilfredo Torriente, and Latish Walker.
Dr. Lisa Cooper; Dr. Chidinma Ibe, Nico Dominguez Carrero, and Alison Trainor of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity; Dr. Anika L. Hines of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and Virginia Commonwealth University; Mrs. Tiffany Scott, co-founder and Chair of the Maryland Community Health Worker Association; and Reverend Debra Hickman, President and CEO of Sisters Together and Reaching, Inc. (STAR) and co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity’s Community Advisory Board.
LaToya Ruby Frazier
LaToya Ruby Frazier’s (b. 1982, Braddock, PA) practice engages with social justice movements, cultural change, and the American experience through a wide range of media, including photography, video, performance, installation, and books. She often uses collaborative storytelling that captures the voices and stories of individuals represented in her artworks. Her prior projects have addressed topics of industrialism, rust belt revitalization, environmental justice, access to healthcare, access to clean water, workers’ rights, the nature of family, and communal history. Her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions at institutions across the U.S. and Europe and her work is held in many public art collections. In May 2024, the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened the first museum survey dedicated to her work, titled LaToya Ruby Frazier: Monuments of Solidarity. In 2024, TIME named her among the 100 most influential people of the year. Other recent accolades include the 2020–21 National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship and a commission for the Carnegie Museum 58th Carnegie International.
Turn Again to the Earth
Turn Again to the Earth refers to a series of major initiatives at the BMA that model commitments to environmental sustainability and foster discourse on climate change and the role of the museum. Unfolding over the remainder of 2024 and throughout 2025, the interrelated efforts include an evaluation of internal BMA practices for environmental impacts and the creation of a sustainability plan for the museum; a series of exhibitions and public programs that capture the relationships between art and the environment across time and geography; and a citywide eco-challenge that invites Baltimore and regional partners to engage in environment-related conversations and enact their own plans for a more sustainable future. Following months of climate-driven protests at museums across the U.S. and abroad, the BMA’s environmental initiatives offer opportunities for more productive dialogues and actions within the museum context. As the museum celebrates its 110th anniversary, it is fitting that it considers its future in part through the lens of this critical subject. The title for the series of initiatives is inspired by the writing of environmental activist Rachel Carson, who spent most of her life in Maryland.
About the Baltimore Museum of Art
Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.
Press Contacts
For media in Baltimore:
Anne Brown
Baltimore Museum of Art
Senior Director of Communications
abrown@artbma.org
410-274-9907
Sarah Pedroni
Baltimore Museum of Art
Communications Manager
spedroni@artbma.org
410-428-4668
Alina Sumajin
PAVE Communications
alina@paveconsult.com
646-369-2050