The parades for the New York Liberty’s historic WNBA championship may be over, but there is still celebration to be had. Today, BSE, the parent company of the Liberty and Nets, unveiled an art installation on Barclays Plaza by the acclaimed LaToya Ruby Frazier honoring the athletes that were a part of the team’s historic season.
Titled “The Liberty Portraits: A Monument to the 2024 Champions,” the installation features double-sided photographic portraits of the 2024 roster. One side shows the player in uniform, and on the other, we see the players with their chosen families in places meaningful to them.
Taking photos and interviewing relatives meant traveling across North America. From spending time with Jonquel Jones’ mother at her home in the Bahamas to visiting Marquesha Dra’shawn Davis’s family in Arkansas, Frazier covered a lot of ground. The artist interviewed the players’ families, creating testimonials displayed alongside the portraits. They reveal intimate details about the team, like the etymology of Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s first name and the story of Sabrina Ionescu’s husband walking away from the NFL to support her through the season. In effect, the photos and testimonials create robust, larger-than-life celebrations of the players and their respective journeys towards winning the championship.
“These six-foot portraits—on pedestals that make them nine feet tall—are arranged in this architectural installation that harkens [to] Mount Olympus,” Frazier said. “So when we think of Olympia and athletes, what I’m really doing is bringing the New York Liberty as these goddesses on their own mountain, at Barclays Plaza. They’re photographed in such a monumental way, where they command the dignity and respect of their humanity, and also their athletic excellence. They’re intended to stand as beacons of women’s leadership and sisterhood.”
Photo by Daniel Greer for BSE
Hailing from Braddock, Pennsylvania, Frazier’s photography has hung in solo shows at museums including MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Seattle Art Museum, and ICA Boston. She is a MacArthur “genius grant” recipient, and her work exists at the nexus of cultural change, social justice, and the American experience.
The installation will be on display throughout the 2025 WNBA season, and is as much for the public as it is for the superfans. “While [fans] are waiting on the line, they will see these double-sided portraits, and because of the story and testimony,” she glowed, “they’ll feel an even deeper connection to the players.”
“It is so important and vital that we transcend race, class, gender, citizenship, sexuality, and you see this transcendence happening collectively and creatively through the way that we made the work,” Frazier added. “All of this is possible because of a collective with so many different people in different roles, believing that this is something worth having and celebrating and loving. And I’m just glad to be able to invest in the New York Liberty creatively and join in the choir of the millions of people who know women in sports is where it’s at.”
The collaboration, a first for BSE, stems from Frazier meeting vice-chair Clara Wu Tsai. “When Clara and I crossed paths,” Frazier said, “it felt like the convergence of purpose and possibility. This collaboration extends beyond fandom and the spectacle of sport; it’s an act of celebrating and bearing witness to the full humanity of these championship players—their struggles, their triumphs, and their lives outside the arena.”
“It’s an honor for Barclays Center to be home for LaToya Ruby Frazier’s first public art installation, and for the New York Liberty to be her chosen subject,” Wu Tsai said. “This is the inaugural work of a new art program designed to celebrate artists and the creative spirit of Brooklyn.” BSE hired Andria Hickey, former chief curator at The Shed, to oversee the art program and act as a curatorial advisor.
Wu Tsai and BSE have committed to continuing public art at Barclays Plaza for years to come by assembling a jury of curators and critics to nominate future artists. The next commission for the plaza, set to debut in 2026, will be announced this fall.
For now, Frazier is plenty excited about the installation. It’s hard not to notice the enthusiasm in her voice as she talks about basketball and her love for the Liberty. Basketball has been her first love since she was six years old, and she played until a high school injury ended her career. Her passion for the game is still present and evident.
“This came into existence because I believed that they were going to win last year,” Frazier noted. “I have been obsessively watching the Liberty since 1997. I believe, just like I told the Liberty when I met them, that I believed they were going to win. I told them that before they won, and I truly believe that this piece is going to be outside, in downtown Brooklyn, and they are gonna repeat. I’m just putting that creative energy out there, adding to the energy and the belief that they can do this again.”
The post Behind The Olympian Art Installation Celebrating The New York Liberty’s Championship appeared first on BKMAG.
