What a Picture From the Sky Reveals About Oppression

In honor of the MLK Special Issue, The Atlantic commissioned artist and photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier to photograph Chicago, Baltimore, and Memphis from the air. In her aerial photography, Frazier explains, the specter of oppression is writ large. “The history is written on that landscape and the body of its inhabitants,” says Frazier. “It became very clear to me how Freddie Gray lived in an environment that is toxic… it just looks like a target from the air.”