‘Poetic representation:’ TCU unveils additions to its Portrait Project
There are no photographs of Charley and Kate Thorp, a formerly enslaved couple who worked as laborers at Texas Christian University in the school’s early days.
And yet their portraits now hang in the lobby of the university’s administration building.
The artwork was unveiled in a ceremony Thursday night on TCU’s campus, and the Thorps’ great-grandchildren were there to witness the moment.
“It shows that people are starting to awaken to include multiple histories into what we consider American history, or in this context, TCU history,” said Mekhi Majedi, who is the Thorps’ fourth great-grandson.
The portraits were created by Texas’ 2022 Artist of the Year, Letitia Huckaby.
Huckaby’s art is included in collections at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Alongside her husband, she founded the Fort Worth art space Kinfolk House, located in the city’s primarily Black and Latino Polytechnic neighborhood.
Given that there are no photographs of the Thorps, Huckaby said she chose to create a representation of the couple as silhouettes built off images of their descendants.
“This is a poetic representation of them, using their descendants in place of them,” Huckaby said. “So the genetics, their DNA, is there.”
Also significant, Huckaby said, is her decision to print the portraits on cotton fabric.
“When I say to you, ‘cotton,’ it makes you think about very specific things, right?” Huckaby said. “You’re looking at me and you’re thinking ‘cotton’ right now, about their history, the history of this country.”
The works are part of TCU’s Portrait Project, an initiative aimed at diversifying the university’s collection of portraiture.
The idea for the project came about in 2018, after TCU professor Jacqueline Lambiase had one of her strategic communication classes audit the portraits at the university.
“The outcome was that TCU was telling a single story,” said Aisha Torrey-Sawyer, the director of TCU’s diversity and inclusion initiative.
Now, the Thorps’ silhouettes are part of the effort to tell a different story.
For Debra Holmes, one of the Thorps’ great-grandchildren, that in itself is a relief.
“I feel like they have recognized history that should have been recognized before, and that’s a great thing,” Holmes said. “It means that everything’s finally come to where it needs to be.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 8:30 PM.
