Portrait of Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, 22, is donated to Harvard University

A portrait of inaugural poet Amanda Gorman has been donated to Harvard University’s permanent collection.

Rising Ghanaian artist Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne painted the work inspired by 22-year-old Gorman’s poem delivered on January 20 at the inauguration of President Joe Biden in Washington.

The acrylic on canvas was purchased by women’s rights and LGBT+ activist Amar Singh who has donated the painting to Harvard.

Mayne, 38, is a graduate of the Ghanatta College of Art and Design. He completed the work in just five days.  

The painting is described as ‘a visceral assemblage of diverse facets of Ghanaian and African sociocultural experiences evoking political, emotional and practically psychoanalytical connections and cut-aways weaving private and public space realities unbound by time’.

Singh, 31, said of the donation: ‘This work must be in an Institution, it is a celebration of women, a celebration of Black women, a celebration of hope.

‘It is especially meaningful to donate it to Harvard as that is Amanda Gorman’s Alma Mater.’

At Harvard University the work will be housed at the Hutchins Center, headed by Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, another champion of Black artists and voices who along with his teaching hosts PBS’ Finding Your Roots and appeared in recent documentaries The 13th and John Lewis: Good Trouble. 

Singh, a member of the erstwhile Kapurthala Royal Family of India, through his activism helped legalise homosexuality in India and has highlighted women’s rights issues throughout the country.

Owner of Amar Gallery in London, Singh acquired the work from celebrated curator Destinee Ross-Sutton via her newly opened Ross-Sutton Gallery, a space dedicated to primarily Black artists and the underrepresented.

Ross-Sutton told artnet news in 2020: ‘In the many instances where others attempt to deny us simple pleasures, we are encouraged to deny ourselves.’

Ross-Sutton’s current exhibition, BLACK VOICES: Friend Of My Mind, features the work of Mayne. It celebrates images of Black figures through rest, wellness, self-love and introspection. 

National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman – who is also the youngest-ever Inaugural poet – became an overnight sensation after performing her original piece The Hill We Climb at President Biden’s inauguration.

She received a standing ovation from the President, Vice President, and First Lady at the ceremony – as well as a slew of praise online from A-listers including Oprah Winfrey, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and John Legend. 

Gorman wears a bird cage ring in the portrait, as she did when reciting the poem. The ring was sent to her as a gift by Oprah. It is a nod to poet Maya Angelou.

Angelou recited her own poem at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 – the now-famed I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

Shortly after the ceremony, Harvard sociology graduate Gorman took part in numerous TV interviews, during which she spoke out about how she overcame a lifelong speech impediment, while also opening up about how she formed a friendship with Oprah in the lead-up to the inauguration. 

Much like President Biden, who has been open about his battle with a stutter, Amanda said she could not have faced the challenging performance without the inspiration of the newly-elected leader that she performed in honor of.

‘President Biden has been super open about his stutter,’ she told Good Morning America last week. ‘My speech impediment wasn’t a stutter but it was dropping several letters that I just could not say for years.

‘Most specifically the R sound. It took until I was 20 to say it. [Which meant] that I couldn’t say words like ‘poetry’ or even ‘Gorman’ which is my last name.  I had to really work at it and practice to get to where I am today.’ 

The poem that Amanda so ably performed at the inauguration was testament to her hard work; the piece featured ‘rise’ several times, a word that the poet was unable to utter just a few short years ago.

‘I was kind of like why on the world did I put “rise” in my poem about five times,’ she joked. ‘But also it was this amazing full circle moment for me because if I’d written this poem three years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to say it. So it was me rising as well as the country at that time.’ 

She has even gone on since to sign with elite modeling agency IMG this week.