Diverse Oxford portraits go on show at Weston Library

An exhibition of portraits commissioned to showcase the diversity of staff and past students at Oxford University opens today (Friday 24 November). The Full Picture: Oxford in Portraits is held at the Weston Library and features more than 20 paintings, drawings and photographs commissioned earlier this year as part of the University's Diversifying Portraiture project. The initiative aims to broaden the range of people represented around the University and features living Oxonians including BBC journalist Reeta Chakrabarti, eminent astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, human rights activist Kumi Naidoo, film and television director Ken Loach, and broadcaster and charity campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen. Portraits completed since the project was launched are on show in the Weston's Blackwell Hall until early January. The exhibition - free and open to the public - features current academics and former students: a mixture of individuals including people with disabilities, people from a variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and people from LGBTQ+ communities. Sitters were selected from over a hundred nominations of living Oxonians. The newly commissioned works will add to and complement Oxford's rich collection of existing college and University portraits.