What’s in a Name? by Kasey Zhuravlev

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has a mission of portraying the people who have shaped America’s history, development and culture. “What’s in a Name?” is an exploration of the mission of the NPG, focusing on the individuals in the gallery that are portrayed in New York. When sketching and designing this project I was curious to discover who exactly made it into the National Portrait Gallery, what they may have accomplished, and if there were demographic similarities across the individuals in the collection. In particular, I hoped to potentially highlight notable individuals or any disparities in the collection while also giving users the ability to view the gallery and portraits themselves. Drawing inspiration from the piece “A Sort of Joy” I added a layer of abstraction to my project by particularly focusing on the first names of the individuals in the collection and the number of times they may appear. In a future iteration of this project I hope to add gender identity as an element with which users can interact when they explore the gallery.