Oxford plugs Indians to improve image
LONDON : The University of Oxford is putting up portraits of 25 individuals from ethnic minorities – including those of Indian origin – to showcase an image of diversity and give a new look to its walls that are mostly adorned by portraits of “dead white males”.
Three Indian-origin individuals figure in the list of the university’s current staff and alumni who will sit for portraits: linguist Aditi Lahiri, BBC journalist Rita Chakrabarti and South African human rights activist Kumi Naidoo. Others include film and television director Ken Loach, astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, award-winning author Jeanette Winterson and historian Lyndal Roper. The idea is to reflect and promote the university’s diversity and its commitment to inclusivity.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of a recent race controversy and the demand to remove the statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes from the university. The statue remained, but this added to criticism that the university does not reflect society and that it admits fewer students from statefunded schools than from feepaying private schools.
“Portraits – mostly paintings and photographs, some of which have already been completed – will include a mixture of men and women and will feature people with disabilities, people from a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and people from LGBTQ+ communities,” the university said on Thursday.
The newly commissioned works will feature in the varsity’s central public spaces and will add to Oxford’s collection of college and university portraits. The individuals were selected from more than 100 nominations of living Oxonians and their portraits will be shown at an exhibition in Oxford later this year.
Chakrabarti said: “I hope this project will show that Oxford is open to everyone, and that it wants to be more so.” HTC