Wednesday, September 2, 2009

back to Braddock...

I guess I am still a little stuck on the idea of this place:

Installation reflects two women's different experiences of growing up in Braddock


This is the tale of two Braddocks.

Victoria Hruska was born in 1921 and reared in the Bottoms, a neighborhood south of Braddock Avenue, in a house she shared with her parents, working-class Polish immigrants, and her seven siblings.

At 16, she dropped out of school to work at a lingerie shop on the avenue to support her family, earning a dime's worth of commission for every piece she sold. Life was hard, but she reflects on it whimsically, and her art ­­-- crafts of recycled and found objects -- reflects her modest upbringing. Few of the things she sells cost more than $15.

"I think that all people should own art," she said.

LaToya Ruby Frazier was born 61 years later, in 1982, and grew up during the height of the crack epidemic in the crowded housing project of Talbot Terrace, also in the Bottoms.

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