By Flickr Creative Commons by Gage Skidmore
A glass portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris was unveiled in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The artwork, which honors her groundbreaking achievement as the first woman, Asian American, and Black vice president of the United States, will remain on display through Feb. 6.
“Representation matters, especially at the ballot box, and the inauguration of Kamala Harris as the first woman, and first woman of color, to serve as vice president of the United States is a landmark moment in American history,” said Holly Hotchner, president and CEO of the National Women’s History Museum, according to Republic World.
The portrait—created by Swiss artist Simon Berger and based off of a photograph taken by Celeste Stolman—embodies the symbolism of Harris’s rise to the Vice Presidency and how she broke through glass ceilings, reports Culture Type.
According to Republic World, an installation to honor the portrait was presented by the National Women’s History Museum in partnership with Chief, a private network focused on connecting and supporting women leaders. Visitors to the installation can scan a QR code that connects to an Instagram Spark Augmented Reality, which provides an immersive exploration of Harris’s milestone achievements.
Women are under-represented on Capitol Hill. Women only represent 27 percent of the members in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 117th Congress, which started last month. They also hold just 24 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate (24 percent).
Previously, Harris was the second Black woman in history to serve in the U.S. Senate, representing California since 2016. Before this, however, she was breaking barriers. From 2004 to 2010, she served as the first Black woman elected district attorney of San Francisco. In 2011, she became California’s attorney general, and the first woman, first African American and first Asian American to serve in the statewide post.
According to Republic World. Lindsay Kaplan, the co-founder of Chief, said that this artwork not only celebrates but recognizes the woman who came before her and those who’ll come after.
“Today’s progress is built on the legacy of the women who came before — the trailblazers, like Kamala, who raised their voices, marched for their rights, and ran for elected office; the women who cracked glass ceilings so that other women could shatter them,” said Hotchner.
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