Jillian Whitney

In “The Supers” series, I created an eight-painting series references traditional paintings of superintendents and presidents that line the halls of schools. To create paintings that seem more institutional compared to the rest of my work, I painted with oil paint on copper leaf over stretched canvas. This series depicts the highest-level administrator at every school I worked at or attended. All eight paintings are men, reflecting my experience and the vast predominance of people in academic leadership. This highlights the importance of eliminating hiring biases in education. Biases deny qualified candidates the opportunity to contribute to our schools. In addition, when leadership does not reflect schools’ constituents, leadership can easily overlook or ignore the needs of the underrepresented. This is reflected in my use of copper leaf. Gold leaf is often associated with power and authority. However, I used copper leaf instead, a material that, while similar, has more in common with a nearly worthless penny. This degraded symbol of authority is what covers the administrator’s eyes, blinding them while providing anonymity.