To see the full project, click here.

In the spring of 2016, senior editors Noah Jodice and Alberto de la Rosa conceptualized a project examining racial and gender representation in portraiture on the Danforth Campus. The project, called the Portrait Representation Project, involved Student Life reporters conducting a campus-wide review of all portraits hanging in public spaces at Washington University.

After over two years of hibernation on servers and in Google drives, the Portrait Project was restarted last semester. Student Life staff conducted interviews with administrators, faculty and portrait artists about how the faces on the walls reflect (or don’t) our institutional history.

Across dozens of buildings, reporters recorded demographic information about the individuals pictured, as well as the name of the artist and the date of commission. Reporters followed up with additional background research on the individuals in the painting, researching their individual achievements, affiliation with the University and the amount of money donated (where relevant). The racial and gender identities noted by reporters were recorded based on how the individual presented, but our background research confirmed pronouns for those who were “out,” and in many cases, racial identities.

We recognize the difficulty and potentially problematic practice of identifying someone’s racial or gender identities based on how they may present, which is why we use the term “presenting” when discussing race and gender in our reporting. Using this approach allowed us to examine the issue of race, gender and class in a physical environment. The vast majority of our subjects were white-passing, reflecting our institutional history which has been wrought with tension and debate as students, faculty and staff of all backgrounds fight for visibility.

To date, we’ve collected data on over 90 portraits. Our data reveals who is represented among the university’s donors, alumni, former administrators and faculty and, more importantly, who isn’t represented. This data collection is intended to be a living database that will change and grow as new portraits are added. More importantly, we hope this project moves the needle forward in reflecting the diversity of our University community.

Thank you for your continued readership, and welcome to the Portrait Representation Project.

Chalaun Lomax
Former Director of Diversity Initiatives