CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/18/2021

On Juneteenth, we celebrate the everyday heroes of Mario Moore’s portraiture

Featured spreads are from The Work of Several Lifetimes, Detroit native Mario Moore’s new collection of portraits of the Black blue-collar workers who keep Princeton University running behind the scenes. “I knew that whatever I created for this series would walk a tight line between the expectation of how Black people are seen in blue-collar jobs versus the true representation of them—making them visible,” Moore writes. “Generally, portraits at elite institutions are created to represent owners, donors, deans, presidents and scholars. But I wanted to ask the question: Which positions garner such attention and how could painting contribute to conversations about who deserves to be recognized? My hope is that the work I created has explored a sense of power and individuality. I believe that all of the work offers insight into each individual that is more complex, more nuanced than at first glance.”