Personal Portraits

A wall art project captures the diverse identities and powerful stories of Scotties.

By Karina Antenucci

Last year, a large purple accent wall in the newly redecorated Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership and Service’s student study space stood blank, beckoning artwork. To fill the void, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Karen Goff commissioned alumna and muralist Yehimi Cambrón ’14 to create an inspiring portrait installation.

“When Dean Goff approached me wanting something to inspire students and reflect the leadership, service and community of Agnes Scott, I pitched her the idea of using the students’ faces and stories in their own words—a very real, tangible example of what students can aspire to become during their time there,” explains Cambrón, who creates art as a platform for social change and often draws from her life experience as a Mexican immigrant.

Students and staff members submitted 15 candidates for the portraits. Then Cambrón had one-on-one conversations with each of them in order to hear their stories and learn how their identities and lived experiences informed each student’s service and leadership.

Yehimi Cambrón ’14 at work on the wall art project in one of the studio spaces in the Charles A. Dana Fine Arts Building on Agnes Scott College’s campus.

Photo by Nicholyn Hutchinson

“Our goal was to be as inclusive as possible of the Agnes Scott community, to represent a diverse group so that every student that interacts with the portraits can find a way to connect,” she says. “I had the honor of hearing the unique stories of athletes, activists, future lawmakers and defenders of justice. Their stories are full of hope and resilience and fully reflect the power and potential of each Scottie, past, present and future.”

To create the intimate portraits, she first photographed each subject, projected their photos onto large sheets of paper and created two portraits of each, one a thick contour line rendering using Sharpie markers and the second a thin contour line rendering using fine-point ink pens. She then photographed those drawings and digitally compiled all the layers with direct words from the interviewees, lighting and adding violet and sepia tones before printing them on canvases.

“I layered the thin, exquisite lines with the bold, heavy lines of each portrait to convey the complexity of their narratives—the power within the vulnerability of their shared narratives. I wanted the text from their stories to surround their faces in an embrace. The colors are warm and inviting to humanize the images and draw in the viewer,” says Cambrón, who completed the nine 30-by-33-inch portraits this past summer.

While the purpose of the project was to empower students, Cambrón says that she herself felt empowered upon its completion.

“What really impacted me about this process is the realization that one’s narrative has intellectual value. This is something I learned directly from Jordan Keesler ’19, one of the students in the portraits. I am continuously developing my art practice to shape it into a platform that will elevate narratives in a way that is raw and uncensored. Agnes Scott is where I learned how to use my artwork as a platform that empowers others, and each conversation enables me to create in a more inclusive and culturally responsive way,” she says.

The addition of Cambrón’s artwork, which is titled “Somos,” in the multipurpose space where students can study, work or relax makes a powerful statement and realizes the vision that Goff had for the center’s accent wall.

“I wanted the space to capture the intersectional identities of our students. It’s really their space, and when they enter, the portraits are a display and reflection of the rich tapestry of our diversity. This visual centerpiece was meant to artfully tell the story of our students, and as an Agnes Scott alumna, Yehimi was the perfect artist to bring our students’ stories to life through their portraits. In her artwork, she skillfully and intricately recounts the narratives and aspirations of today’s and tomorrow’s global leaders and change agents,” Goff says.

“The students’ response has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of them have expressed how refreshing it is to see portraits of themselves and other students represented in a campus space,” she adds. “The Agents of Change Reception was hosted in the space, and Dean of Students Emerita Gué Pardue Hudson ’68, for whom the center is named, was invited to speak with our students and to meet Yehimi, who will also be doing a similar portrait of Gué to complement the student portraits.”

Beidler, who serves on the committee and taught Cambrón at Agnes Scott, enjoyed the opportunity to partner with her talented former student.

Working closely with Cambrón, the Agnes Scott Art Advisory Committee oversaw the Gué Pardue Hudson Center for Leadership and Service wall art project, on which Cambrón did much of the work in the college’s Dana Fine Arts Building. Professor of Art and Art History Anne

“It was truly wonderful watching Yehimi develop the project for the wall. I am so happy that we were able to provide her with support and studio space in the Dana Fine Arts Building to work through the summer of 2018,” Beidler says. “As was often the case when Yehimi was a student, she has created a beautiful and deeply thoughtful work of art.”

For information about art on Agnes Scott’s campus, contact the Agnes Scott Art Advisory Committee by emailing Anne Beidler at abeidler@agnesscott.edu.