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Historic stairwell at University of Cambridge, lined with bronze portraits of male professors, with a large arched window displaying 30 contemporary portrait oil paintings of women on transparent perspex, who work in the department.

Historic stairwell at University of Cambridge, lined with bronze portraits of male professors, with a large arched window displaying 30 contemporary portrait oil paintings of women on transparent perspex, who work in the department.

30 contemporary oil portrait paintings of women who work in the department of pathology university of cambridge on transparent perspex.

30 contemporary oil portrait paintings of women who work in the department of pathology university of cambridge on transparent perspex.

Historic stairwell at University of Cambridge, lined with bronze portraits of male professors, with a large arched window displaying 30 contemporary portrait oil paintings of women on transparent perspex, who work in the department.

Historic stairwell at University of Cambridge, lined with bronze portraits of male professors, with a large arched window displaying 30 contemporary portrait oil paintings of women on transparent perspex, who work in the department.

Historic stairwell at University of Cambridge, lined with bronze portraits of male professors, with a large arched window displaying 30 contemporary portrait oil paintings of women on transparent perspex, who work in the department.

Historic stairwell at University of Cambridge, lined with bronze portraits of male professors, with a large arched window displaying 30 contemporary portrait oil paintings of women on transparent perspex, who work in the department.

24 Portraits: Recovering and Reimagining Women’s Labour

2019-2020
Oil on perspex
154 x 131 cms, individual panels, 30 x 21 cms
Permanent Collection: Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge

Supported by The Rising Tide: Women at Cambridge programme hosted by Cambridge University Libraries, supported by Cambridge Assessment, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation, and Friends of Cambridge University Library. Permanent Collection University of Cambridge, Pathology Department.

— This site-specific installation is made up of painted portraits of women who currently work in all areas of the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge including laboratory managers, academics, cleaners, lecturers, administrators and technicians.

My aim is to celebrate and address the representation of women working in all types of jobs in this department. After researching how many women work in the Department of Pathology, and what that work entails; I photographed a small selection of them and from these photographs created a series of 24 painted portraits. The portraits are painted in black paint on transparent Perspex and installed in a large window. The light coming in the window allows the image to be seen, similar to images created in stained glass.

By creating these paintings that represent women carrying out all forms of labour in the department, I intended to elevate these sometimes undervalued images of women and their job roles. By placing the portrait installation in between the existing commemorative bronze relief portraits of men, I wanted to create visual connections between both sets of images, enabling the viewer to confront the visual representation of women in the department.

The title of this installation piece relates directly to Gerhard Richter’s 48 Portraits; a series of painted portraits of historic male figures made for the 1972 Venice Biennale. Richter was interested in the speechless language of pictures, where personalities become anonymous. This is something I am interested in also and wanted to make a point of with the title of the piece. By painting the portraits of these women in black and white and not including visual information that would point to their specific job role, I hope to have given them this anonymity and even the ability to be reimagined.

— Emma Copley

Free and open to all

Visitors must check in at the ground floor for a visitors pass and be escorted to view the art work.
Large groups please call in advance.

Contact details are available on the > Department of Pathology website; read more here: https://women-at-pathology.shorthandstories.com/