Portraits from the community featuring leaders of all kinds

What does leadership look like? In response to MFA Boston’s call for submissions, artists of all ages—from Dorchester to Seoul—have sent in the more than 2,600 portraits comprising “Portraits of Leadership: Responses to the Obama Portraits.” Curated by teens from Curatorial Study Hall—a project-based internship program giving high school students museum career experience—the exhibition explores themes of narrative and storytelling, families, memorials, activists, fame, and artistic expression. The works on view—spanning drawing, painting, watercolor, collage, and photography—showcase the distinct voices of individual artists, and together they form a panoramic vision of what a leader can be.

This exhibition accompanies “The Obama Portraits Tour” and is inspired by the portraits of President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald. Unlike earlier images of presidents and first ladies, the paintings break barriers, paving the way for new artistic visions. Wiley’s and Sherald’s pictures are at once extraordinary and approachable—making space for people of color and allowing audiences to see themselves in President Obama and the former First Lady.