This project will highlight the critical and varied roles that a diverse range of women play across the University through the commissioning of a range of watercolour portraits by internationally renowned Irish artist Laura Callaghan. The portraits will become part of the University Art Collection and will be unveiled in a special exhibition at the Naughton Gallery in November 2024.

The project’s Open Call invites staff and students to nominate women working across the University, including both academic and professional services staff, to have their portrait created by Callaghan. Whilst various significant women from throughout the history of Queen’s are highlighted through the Visionary Women portrait collection in the Great Hall, this project is focusing on the present, recognising essential support staff, inspirational leaders, and boundary-pushing academics who make a significant contribution to the fabric of Queen’s today.

Entries open: 4^th March 2024

Entries close: 15^th April 2024

Upon its foundation in 2000, QGI commissioned Out of the Shadows, a large-scale oil painting by Michelle Rogers which currently hangs in the University’s Council Chambers. In the painting we see various women emerging from the shadows, surrounded by text which points to the various roles which women play at Queen’s, including administrators, technicians, cleaners, lecturers, secretaries, professors, and directors. The women themselves remain somewhat anonymous, enabling viewers to imagine themselves in these roles or to see themselves reflected in some way.

This new project is inspired by the messaging of Out of the Shadows, but will instead celebrate and promote the essential roles that specific women play at Queen’s, showing their faces, telling their stories, and reflecting the breadth of women who contribute so significantly to the success of the University.

Find out more about the project and how to enter here.