In December 2018, Syracuse University hosted a major exhibit which included all of Robert Shetterly’s portraits (238 at the time).  Staged in the school’s Schine Student Center, the exhibit was titled “Americans Who Tell the Truth: Models of Courageous Citizenship.”

The University’s Maxwell School was the major sponsor of the exhibit. Co-sponsors included the Tanner Lecture Series for Ethics, Citizenship, and Public Responsibility, in cooperation with University Lectures; the Graduate Program in Museum Studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) School of Design; and media sponsor WAER.

The opening lecture in Setnor Auditorium featured artist Robert Shetterly, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, public health advocate and pediatrician at the Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, and Richard Bowen, senior lecturer in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas. LaVonda Reed, professor of law and Syracuse University associate provost for faculty affairs, led the stimulating discussion. Hanna-Attisha is widely recognized for her research which exposed dangerous levels of lead in the municipal water system in Flint, Michigan. Bowen is a former Citigroup senior executive who blew the whistle on Citi’s fraudulent mortgage practices in the mid-2000s.

Portrait subjects who traveled to Syracuse to attend the exhibition and lecture included Sandra Steingraber, Bill Ayers, Mara Sapon-Shevin, Louis Clark, Betty Burkes, Stephen Ritz, Jon Oberg, Joan Gussow, Ann Wright.  Burkes commented that, To be in the presence of the souls that Robert has captured and whose stories he embodies is a sacred moment. The portrait of Syracuse alumnus Oren Lyons ’58, faith-keeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation and a chief of the Council of the Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee, can also be found among the 238 portraits.

Shetterly spent a week visiting classrooms, engaging students in conversations about the power of art and the inspiring stories of his portrait subjects. He visited classes in the College of Visual and Preforming Arts, the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, the School of Education, the Whitman School of Management, and the Renée Crown University Honors Program.

Awed by the sight of the exhibit, Shetterly said, The cumulative effect of all the portraits together is far greater than any one portrait alone. They become a congregation, an interactive mural, a chorus, a joyful song for justice.

All events were free and open to the public. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) was provided for the lecture.

Thanks to Syracuse University and GlobalNewswire for their reporting.