Kimmerer Portrait Featured in 'Americans Who Tell the Truth' Display

A portrait of Distinguished Teaching Professor Robin Kimmerer is among a collection of artwork that will be displayed at Syracuse University in connection with a lecture by the artist, Robert Shetterly.

All 238 paintings in Shetterly's masterwork portrait series "Americans Who Tell the Truth: Models of Courageous Citizenship" will be on public display for the first time en masse Nov. 29 through Dec. 14. And the artist himself will be on campus for a discussion with two prominent subjects of his work: a former Citigroup senior executive who blew the whistle on Citi's fraudulent mortgage practices in the mid-2000s and a crusading pediatrician and public health advocate whose research exposed dangerous levels of lead in the municipal water system in Flint, Michigan. Portraits will be displayed in Schine Student Center's Panasci Lounge.

In an on-stage conversation at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, in Crouse College's Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Shetterly will be joined by 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 SU associate provost for faculty affairs, will moderate the discussion.

Both the exhibition and the lecture event are free and open to the public. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided for the lecture.

The portraits and accompanying narratives in the "Americans Who Tell the Truth" series highlight citizens who courageously address issues of social, environmental and economic fairness. Combining art and other media, the series "offers resources to inspire a new generation of engaged Americans who will act for the common good, our communities, and the Earth."

Major sponsor of the exhibition and the accompanying lecture is the Maxwell School's Tanner Lecture Series for Ethics, Citizenship, and Public Responsibility in cooperation with the University Lectures and the Graduate Program in Museum Studiesin the College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Design, along with media sponsor WAER.

The exhibition will be open for public viewing Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to midnight and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to midnight, beginning Thursday, Nov. 29, and continuing through Friday, Dec. 14.

-This article is based on a news release from Syracuse University.