Back to Latest NewsBROOKLYN, NY – Today, BSE Global, parent company of 2024 WNBA Champion New York Liberty, the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, alongside its Vice Chair Clara Wu Tsai revealed The Liberty Portraits: A Monument to the 2024 Champions, a new public art installation by renowned artist LaToya Ruby Frazier honoring the 2024 WNBA championship team, now on display on the plaza at Barclays Center
The series, Frazier’s first outdoor installation, celebrates the New York Liberty as professional athletes, reflecting the power of female leadership, influence, diversity, love for the game of basketball and family. Referencing the heroic scale of the Statue of Liberty, Frazier designed double-sided, nine-foot-tall portraits of each player on the 2024 roster presented in architectural display cases —one side featuring a portrait of a player in uniform, and the reverse side showcasing an image of the same player with their chosen family. To make the latter portraits, Frazier visited the players in locations meaningful to them, including spending time with Jonquel Jones’ family in the Bahamas and visiting players in Texas, Arkansas and Alabama, among other locations. Known for incorporating storytelling in her work, Frazier’s portraits also include the voice of a loved one chosen by each player as first-person testimonies on text panels. The Liberty Portraits: A Monument to the 2024 Champions will be on display through the 2025 WNBA season. Learn more
“I've been a WNBA and Liberty fan since the franchise was founded in 1997 and it's always been a dream to collaborate with a team,” said LaToya Ruby Frazier. “When Clara and I crossed paths at the Gordon Parks Foundation, 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, their lives outside the arena. I was inspired by the Statue of Liberty's eternal promise – freedom, hope, and the vision of a brighter future to enlighten the world. I'm interested in creating a bridge between the fans and the team, deepening a sense of compassion and commanding the dignity and respect the team deserves. These portraits are intended to stand as beacons of women's leadership and the power of sisterhood.”
Following Frazier’s installation, Wu Tsai will continue to bring public art to the plaza with a series of temporary new commissions in the coming years. A jury of esteemed art world leaders, including Thelma Golden, Michael Govan, Clara Kim, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Anne Pasternak, and Akili Tommasino, have convened to nominate artists and select the 2026 commission, to be announced this fall.
“It’s an honor for Barclays Center to be home to LaToya Ruby Frazier’s first public art installation—and for the New York Liberty to be her chosen subject,” said Clara Wu Tsai, BSE Global Vice Chair and Governor of the New York Liberty. “This is the inaugural work of a new art program designed to celebrate artists and the creative spirit of Brooklyn.”
In addition to the public installations outside the arena, Wu Tsai and BSE Global will introduce new art and artists to the interior of Barclays Center. Andria Hickey, the former chief curator at The Shed, is serving as curatorial advisor and overseeing the venue’s art program.
