TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Museum of Art has commissioned Ya La’ford for an original work as the 2024 Juneteenth artist, hosting her in conversation ahead of the June 15th celebration. “I’m really a conduit for all the people that paved the way for me,” she said.
It’s part of the museum’s initiative to reflect the art of the community they serve.
“There are so many incredible artists from underrepresented backgrounds to voices who have been silenced or ignored over history,” said Joanna Robotham, Curator at the TMA. “And it’s time that we are able to highlight and showcase some artists who perhaps might not have had the same attention maybe a couple of decades ago.”
La’ford’s work will join that of 2023’s Juneteenth artist Jake Troyli in the permanent collection, along with two Florida Highwaymen paintings, all on current exhibition.
Their current exhibition, on display through 2025, is from artist Purvis Young- a Black Floridian from Miami. All of this art is a vision of the Sunshine State.
“They are highlighting what’s in front of them, their community,” said Robatham. “Their home site is their greatest source of inspiration.”
In a little more than a decade, La’ford has left her mark on the Tampa Bay area. Her work highlights intersecting lines, as we are all connected. La’ford thanked those who gave her the courage to pursue this dream.
“I’m so grateful to my husband, who believed in me. I’d be practicing law and living this very duplicitous life. He never gets credit, and he needs it all and a little more,” she said.
She also thanked those that came before.
“I think I feel so honored and so filled with gratitude because they’re so many shoulders that I had to stand on,” said La’ford. “So I think it would be this ancestral whisper from people that did so much so I could be right here right now.”
Look for La’ford’s original work for the museum to be unveiled later this year.
Virginia Johnson
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