September 23, 2021

Icons and relics are typically associated with images of saints displayed in churches. While their stories are often filled with struggle, icons tend to depict saints in their best moments; whether it be conquering evil or exuding poise while draped in fine robes. Ed Fraga appropriates icons to portray the people he has encountered throughout his time in Detroit. Part of his Talisman series, Three Women includes Fraga’s mother while in the hospital for a mental breakdown, his friend Carolyn, who lived in the Cary building, Detroit from 1983-1986, and a homeless woman he saw on the streets of Detroit. In contrast to traditional icons, Fraga illustrates the three women, particularly his mother and the homeless woman, in some of their most vulnerable moments.

Fraga situates his subjects in what appears to be an outdoor landscape. The blue sky streaked with white clouds is visible in the distance, which is accompanied by an expansive plane of land. These environmental structures direct the viewer’s gaze to the women in the foreground: who in real life are usually left in the background. Fraga positions the three women front and center to express the importance of stories that are often left unexplored. He extracts his mother’s room from the hospital and transfers it to the outdoor setting. She sits on the bed with her nightstand in the background. Fraga employs a bright yellow paint for the bed to draw the viewer’s attention to the scene. Oftentimes, mental health struggles are swept under the rug; whatever happens behind closed doors stays there. By inviting viewers into his mother’s room, Fraga celebrates the strength that stems from her vulnerability.

The homeless woman is the closest to the picture plane. This position alone challenges how viewers might normally interact, or not interact, with homeless people. Her eyelids and mouth are a deep maroon, drawing the focus to the primary ways human beings communicate through eye contact and word of mouth. People may not have given her a second look if they saw her in Detroit, but Fraga invites the viewer to address her directly and see the potential he has found in her. His configuration of his friend Carolyn suggests that she too sees something special in the homeless woman. Carolyn’s eyes shift to her right as she smiles at her in admiration.

Titling his series Talisman is an integral way Fraga expresses the value of his subjects as well as the city of Detroit. Talisman objects are believed to possess magical qualities, bestowing those who own them with good luck. Fraga explains that as a child, “finding a paint pealed wall or door in a back alley or abandoned building, weathered by time, held the same excitement as discovering a fossilized rock.” This appreciation for things that are not conventionally beautiful in turn influenced his work as a Detroit artist in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Just as the blight in Detroit was not considered valuable by conventional standards, the figures Fraga selects for his Talisman series do not seem to possess notable characteristics at a first glance. Nevertheless, he constructs them at the forefront of his work according to the way he sees them: as characters who contribute to the story of Detroit. Moreover, these women represent talisman’s in Fraga’s life. They are people whose vulnerable moments inspire him to create.

Ed Fraga is a Detroit artist who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wayne State University in 1980.  His work can be found in the collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cranbrook Art Museum, the Flint Institute of Arts, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.  He is the recipient of the prestigious Kresge Artist Fellowship, Adolph and Ester Gottlieb Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy. Fraga has exhibited his work extensively both in Detroit and around the country, including two solo exhibitions in New York City. His work is currently featured in the “Ocean Body” exhibition the Wasserman Project, Detroit.

Written by Angela Athnasios

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