ABOUT FACE: Portraits at Union Theological Seminary (2012)

ABOUT FACE is the accompanying artist book to Cathy Busby's 2012 installation by the same name exhibited in the Refectory, the Union Theological Seminary's Neo-Gothic dining hall. 

After an invitation from AA Bronson, Busby became the first full-time artist-in-residence for the Institute of Art, Religion, & Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary (New York). There, she worked with their permanent collection to develop ABOUT FACE which featured a series of painted silhouettes replacing thirteen portraits of past board presidents, faculty members, and significant benefactors which usually hung throughout the Refectory.

This publication includes colour reproductions of all 63 of Union’s permanent collection portraits (1840-2009) along with reflections about the paintings from students, faculty, staff, and friends, and a catalogue with information about each one. 

“I intend this work to invite conversation about the space of the Refectory and Union’s rich history as represented in portraits. However, the formal (and formulaic) conventions and hanging of the portraits don’t reveal this history. By looking beyond this convention we find a remarkable line-up of those who imagined, created, and sustained Union. And depending on how you look at it, there’s a randomness, or privilege, to whose images are represented in these portraits with many key figures in the institution’s history absent.”

Cathy Busby 

2012

The 96-page book is co-published with Printed Matter, Inc. and can be found on Printed Matter's website or at READ books (Vancouver).