Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

Now on view at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, the blockbuster exhibition Diamonds of History: Mighty Women by Ashley Longshore (through January 29, 2023) features portraits by New Orleans-based pop artist Ashley Longshore of—you guessed it—Mighty Women, in three categories: women making discoveries, women shaping culture, and women creating change. The series highlights the contributions, struggles, and triumphs of 33 influential women and traces their impact on society in the arts, sciences, political sphere, and beyond. Debuting at LASM is also a painting from Longshore's "Gem" series, symbolizing the women whose portraits are on view as "Diamonds of History," whose sparkle will never fade. This is the first time for Longshore’s work to be featured in a museum setting.

As longtime fans of Ashley Longshore, Louisiana Art & Science Museum (LASM) Interim Curator Tracey Barhorst and Interim Assistant Curator Beth Welch were immediately drawn to Longshore’s Mighty Women collection. Longshore is well-known for her pop art depictions of influential women, and while planning the museum’s 2022 diamond-themed 60^th anniversary gala, LASM staff agreed that showcasing pieces from Longshore’s woman-centered collection would make a perfect focal point for the museum’s annual fundraiser and a future exhibition.

Within the exhibition space is a “salon wall,” where artwork from all three exhibition categories is positioned around a couch, providing visitors with a comfortable vantage point from which to enjoy Longshore’s work. The goal of the salon wall is to illustrate that women don’t just fit into one category. Visitors are invited to sit and see parts of themselves, reflected back from the portraits of these inspiring icons.

“Women highlighted in the exhibition include well-known heroes like Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman. In addition, we also have modern celebrity heroes like Lady Gaga and Lizzo who are working for positive change in the world today,” said Curator Tracey Barhorst.

Adding a multimedia dimension to the exhibition, LASM curators have accompanied various portraits with QR codes, directing visitors to a “Mighty Women” Spotify playlist, music videos, biographies, movie trailers, and other enhancements. The exhibition also provides an introduction to the “Art & Science of Diamonds,” which explains various ways in which diamonds are used in jewelry making, as well as how diamonds are formed, how they are used in industry, and how they occur in space.

The Louisiana Art & Science Museum's annual exhibitions program, including the presentation of Diamonds of History: Mighty Women by Ashley Longshore, is generously sponsored by Entergy. This exhibition is also generously supported by the Louisiana Office of Tourism's Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism through the Louisiana Attraction Support Grant program as well as the Alma Lee, Norman and Cary Saurage Fund of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.