April M. Frazier

Frame of Reference is a pictorial representation of familial influences and experiences which shaped my life. Using images and genealogical research, Frame of Reference serves to present an alternate narrative of the African American experience in Texas and beyond. Images of accomplishment, celebration and love are shown from as early as 1890 to present day including selected portraits from my family collection. Collages in the in exhibition carve out details of those lives lived and highlights certain triumphs, including Emanuel Roberts, my 2nd Great Grandfather and his acquisition of one hundred acres of land in Wharton County, Texas in 1893, and Henry Cox, my 3rd Great Grandfather, whose parents Jacob Cox and Malissa Truesdale married as freedmen in Fayette County, Texas January 1866. Sixteen portraits from Black Chronicles on loan from Autograph ABP, London are displayed in parallel to my portraits to demonstrate similarities in features, style of dress, and strong presence through time of AfriDescent people across the globe. Frame of Reference demonstrates the growth, breadth, love, and interconnectedness in tradition and experiences over many generations. The threading signifies those connections in family ties and derived from observing the thread pattern on the back of a collage of images sewn by my grandmother. The work speaks to the power of photography and the privilege of my family’s access to the artform. I want the viewer to feel like they are flipping through a family photo album in a relative’s living room, seeing similarities in their own lived experience. I chose to leave the images as-is to show their less than pristine condition. They serve as tangible evidence reaffirming this was family known and loved. Our Story is Evergreen December 3, 2021 to April 30, 2022 at HMAAC | Houston Museum of African American Culture https://hmaac.org/april-frazier May 21 to August 27, 2022 at Fayette Heritage Museum & Archives November 5 to 30, 2022 Wharton County Library Currently On View March 3rd to April 30, 2023 at Vermont Center for Photography https://vcphoto.org/

These images are of the Frame of Reference exhibition installed at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, the Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives, the Wharton County Library, and the Vermont Center for Photography. Frame of Reference at HMAAC was accompanied by "Black Chronicles: The Missing Chapter", portraits on loan from Autograph ABP in London. The portraits run parallel to portraits in my collection to showcase the similarities in features, style and status of AfriDescent people from Texas to across the globe. The HMMAC virtual exhibition can be found here: https://hmaac.org/april-frazier