Made in collaboration with Dr. Lisa Cooper, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity; 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, Chair of the Maryland Community Health Worker Association; Reverend Debra Hickman, President and CEO of Sisters Together and Reaching, Inc (STAR); and Community Health Workers: La Kerry B. Dawson, Tracy Barnes-Malone, Karen Dunston, Kenya Ferguson, Griselda Funn, Erica Hamlett, Donny Missouri, Veda Moore, Kendra N. Lindsey, Evelyn Nicholson, Helen Owhonda, Gregory Rogers, Wilfredo Torriente, and Latish Walker.
For the 58th Carnegie International, LaToya Ruby Frazier (b. 1982 in Braddock, PA; lives and works in Chicago, IL) created a monument dedicated to the community health workers (CHWs) of Baltimore, Maryland, and the faith leaders and doctors with whom they collaborate. CHWs are trusted community members who act as liaisons between residents, health care systems, and state health departments to spread awareness of public health threats and access to treatment and prevention programs. Between July and September 2021, Frazier photographed and interviewed the many women and men working as CHWs as they performed crucial outreach throughout the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
As part of a photographic community-based participatory research study conducted by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, Frazier led workshops with participants that approached photography as a tool to tell their stories and take control of how their work and communities are portrayed. In More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers of Baltimore, Maryland (2021-22), Frazier modified intravenous stands to hold portraits of CHWs on one side and the photographs taken by participants on the other. In Frazier’s words, the project aims “to recognize the labor and lived experiences of CHWs during the COVID-19 pandemic and their long-standing efforts on the frontlines serving their communities.”
