Oxford University unveils portraits to reflect diversity

Oxford University has revealed a line-up of people whose portraits will be put on display in a bid to promote greater diversity.

The portraits, mainly paintings and photographs, include a mixture of men and women and will feature people with disabilities and from a variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds as well as people from LGBTQ+ communities.

Among the portraits will be film and TV director Ken Loach, journalist Reeta Chakrabarti, eminent astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, author Jeanette Winterson and human rights activist Kumi Naidoo.

The new works are to be displayed in the university's central public spaces and will be shown at an exhibition in Oxford later in the year.

Professor Patricia Daley, of the school of geography at Oxford University, was chosen to be a sitter and said: "This project is a bold attempt by the university to make a statement about inclusivity and I was happy to be part of it.

"Having my portrait painted by Binny Mathews was a wonderful experience and gave me plenty to think about - what it's like to be an educator at Oxford, the importance of my contribution as a woman racialised as black, and the ways in which our physical features are perceived by others."

Dr Rebecca Surender, advocate and pro-vice-chancellor for equality and diversity, said: "It is hugely important for students and staff to feel at home at Oxford, and to feel inspired by people they can relate to.

"This series of portraits, created by a talented group of artists, will broaden the range of people represented around the University. All of those selected to take part have made enormous contributions to Oxford life and to society more widely."

The full list of sitters and artists:

:: Diran Adebayo (novelist) - Rory Carnegie

:: Dr Norma Aubertin-Potter (librarian) - Emily Freeman

:: Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (astrophysicist) - Ben Hughes

:: Professor Dame Valerie Beral (epidemiologist) - Samantha Fellows

:: Professor Dorothy Bishop (developmental neuropsychologist) - Benjamin Sullivan

:: Reeta Chakrabarti (journalist) - Fran Monks

:: Dr Penelope Curtis (arts administrator) - Humphrey Ocean

:: Professor Patricia Daley (human geographer) - Binny Mathews

:: Professor Trisha Greenhalgh (primary health care scholar) - Fakhri Bismanto Bohang

:: Anne-Marie Imafidon (women in science campaigner) - Sarah Muirhead

:: Professor Dame Carole Jordan (astrophysicist) - Rupert Brooks

:: Professor Aditi Lahiri (linguistics scholar) - Rosalie Watkins

:: Kelsey Leonard (water scholar) - artist TBC

:: Hilary Lister (sailor) - Nicola Brandt

:: Ken Loach (director) - Richard Twose

:: Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch (historian) - Joanna Vestey

:: Jan Morris (writer) - Luca Coles

:: Kumi Naidoo (human rights activist) - Fran Monks

:: Dr Henry Odili Nwume (Winter Olympian) - Sarah-Jane Moon

::Dame Esther Rantzen (broadcaster and charity campaigner) - Ander McIntyre

:: Professor Lyndal Roper (historian) - Miranda Creswell

:: Professor Kathy Sylva (educational psychologist) - Pippa Thew

:: Marie Tidball (lawyer and disability rights campaigner) - Clementine Webster

:: Jeanette Winterson (novelist) - Gerard Hanson