An outdated aesthetic

McMaster was a historically upper-class, white institution and this continues to be reflected in the key symbolic public spaces on campus like Council Chambers and Convocation Hall.

But McMaster’s student body is now fully inclusive of both male and female students of different racialized backgrounds, religious beliefs and abilities. Having students, faculty and staff from diverse experiences enriches critical discourse at our institution—but artwork in key public space predominantly represents the homogeneity of McMaster’s past.

The lack of diversity in McMaster’s most important public space is incongruous with our institution’s values and may be alienating to some students.

McMaster has a history of diversity to be proud of. It was among the first universities in Canada to welcome women, when an initiative led by William McMaster’s wife resulted in the creation of the Moulton Ladies’ College as an arms-length academic department of an otherwise male university in 1888. McMaster became fully mixed with the move to Hamilton from Toronto in 1930.

Since then, McMaster has become increasingly diverse. The latest University Factbook says faculty currently represent 70 countries and international students represent 92 countries. No other metrics of diversity are published, but the roster of student clubs demonstrates the diverse cultural affiliations of the student body.

Specific aspects of diversity are recognized as an asset in the Strategic Mandate Agreement that McMaster signed with the province of Ontario. McMaster’s SMA highlights our retention of aboriginal, first-generation and students with disability as areas of institutional strength.

Given this commitment to diversity, the degree to which McMaster’s predominantly Caucasian, upper-class history past continues to dominate public space on campus is surprising. Particularly in ceremonial and prominent areas of campus like Convocation Hall and Gilmour Hall’s Council Chambers, portraits of university administrators loom over the halls.

Professor Jane Aronson, the Chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Building an Inclusive Community (PACBIC) says the Council has tangentially examined public space, but mostly in terms of physical space rather than art.

“We often worry about what looks like public space on campus actually doesn’t offer space or resources to some students,” said Aronson.

“One thing we’ve addressed is working with indigenous communities and, for example, access to rooms where they can do smudging ceremonies—sometimes the design of space, sometimes the physical plan or the lack of space quantitatively or the ill design of space. Its effects aren’t random”

Aronson agrees that images, even within campus promotional material like the first-year lookbook, have in the past represented a stereotypical student that may not resonate with the current student body.

“While you don’t want to get tokenistic about having some greater diversity in that portrait, you have got to do something about it.”

The issue of representation in public space is not unique to McMaster, Hertford College at Oxford University recently addressed this issue with a special exhibition.

The college replaced the 21 portraits of men in their largest public space with an array of portraits of former female students from different generations and career paths. The display was meant to not only emphasize the importance of the anniversary of welcoming female students to the college, but also broaden what success looks like and what they are proud of.

“All institutions find it difficult not to just pick out people that are in some way celebrities or very rich or very senior in certain public roles, they’re people that you know, are very impressive but they’ve achieved in a very narrow sense of the word,” explained Emma Smith of Oxford University, who organized the project.

“We wanted to show that we are proud of these different things people have done with their lives… we’re not just proud of people that are wealthy and might give back to the college or who have been promoted or become famous or whatever.”

The display is currently planned to last for a year, but the administration is now discussing what will happen next.

She said this type of initiative can be viewed as more than a political statement, but also an artistic one.

“Maybe don’t just think about it in sort of a political or ideological statement but an artistic statement as well, many people feel that the old institutionalized style of portrait isn’t very welcoming,” said Smith.

A Canadian institution, King’s College in Halifax, is also trying to display more diversity, but rather than removing the current portraits, they are simply adding new ones.

“Putting these pictures up isn't about cutting men out, lessening their accomplishments, or even chastising the institution, it's about ensuring that our spaces on campus tell the story of who we are, and that recognizes the people that have made our school what it is today,” said Clare Barrowman, a third-year student at King’s involved in the project.

“Women have been part of that narrative and continue to be. It's important that female students don't just hear that, but see it and feel it.”

A major challenge with implementing this type of project in any of McMaster’s key public space is that there is no single entity which decides how public space is used and what part of McMaster’s history should be commemorated.

A PACBIC working group could hypothetically be created to recommend ways to increases diversity in artwork, but any initiative would have to be cautious and respectful of the important role of the figures from McMaster’s past.

“There are huge ironies because PACBIC meets in Council Chambers, of course the institution has the history the institution has, but sometimes that makes for the most bizarre sort of counterpoint. I think it would probably take an occasion to legitimate the removing, to make that possible because so many people would experience that as dishonoring the people that have gone before,” said Aronson.

In fact, the very nature of donor-driven statues and pieces of art on campus means that a strategic vision would be difficult.

But student input suggests imagery in public space is worth addressing.

For example, through student consultation in designing the Mills library learning commons, Vivian Lewis, the McMaster librarian found that students not only notice what is on the walls, but it also affects their learning.

“The one big criticism [students] had is that there are these giant white wall with nothing on it and they said please, please, please put some art on the wall and make it student art.”

The feedback was so overwhelmingly positive that they also sought student art for the Lyons New Media Centre and the Mills stairwell, which now features 5-foot by 6-foot self-portraits of McMaster art students.

“In terms of why [we wanted student art] was to meet the students’ need for the aesthetic part of learning… we recognized from talking to students that the aesthetic actually matters a great deal,” said Lewis.

As a research-focused, student-centred institution, it’s time to reflect on what our most important public space says about what we, as an institution, value.