Professors Diamond Ashiagbor and Toni Williams feature in ‘Phenomenal Women’ exhibition

Portraits of Kent Law School Professors Diamond Ashiagbor and Toni Williams are among 40 to feature in ‘Phenomenal Women‘, Britain’s first ever photographic exhibition honouring Britain’s black female professors.

Both Professor Ashiagbor and Professor Williams will be at London’s City Hall tonight to attend an official launch ahead of the exhibition’s opening on Wednesday 18 March.

The exhibition comprises portraits of 40 professors, across a broad range of subjects including law, medicine, creative writing and sociology, taken by Bill Knight OBE. The exhibition has been researched and curated by Dr Nicola Rollock, Reader in Equity & Education at Goldsmiths University of London, who has been examining the career experiences and strategies of black female professors at UK higher education establishments over the past three years.

Fewer than 1% of professors in the UK are black despite increases in overall levels of academic staff. Black women represent the smallest group when both race and gender are considered together. They are three times less likely to be professors than their white female counterparts and half as likely as black men.

A selection of the images is available to preview in an article by The Guardian. The exhibition is showing at City Hall until the end of the month before beginning a tour of UK universities.