EmBOSS portrays 129 women who are leaders in their field. Their portraits pop off of the wall in the format of a custom made embossed wallpaper. Globally, women are reaching higher than ever in political, professional and media sectors. However, there is a long road ahead in order to reach gender equity in global leadership. Using embossed wallpaper is a way to simultaneously reference emergence while also showing the inequity. These women are relegated to the background. Using a domestic architectural installation, white on white, low relief and minimal detail is a way to reference the slow but also powerful progression.
EmBOSS, paper and wood, 10'x10'x1, 2024
Women featured (and their positions as of 2024):
Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of European Commission/Union
Christine Lagarde, President of European Central Bank
Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy
Taylor Swift, Singer, Songwriter
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup
Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors
Melinda French Gates, Cochair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Julie Sweet, CEO of global services company Accenture
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
Mackenzie Scott, Philanthropist, Author
Emma Walmsley, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline
Ruth Porat, President & Chief Investment Officer And Chief Financial Officer, Alphabet (Google)
Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle
Kathryn McLay, CEO of Walmart International
Sarah London, CEO of Centene
Amy Hood, Executive Vice President & CFO, Microsoft
Catherine MacGregor, CEO of ENGIE France
Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary
Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics
Tsai-Ing Wen, President of Taiwan
Oprah Winfrey, Television Host and Producer
Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister Of Finance And Corporate Affairs, India
Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO, TIAA
Beyonce, Singer, Songwriter, Businesswoman
Shari Redstone, Chairman of Paramount Global
Kathy Warden, Chairman, President & CEO of Northrop Grumman
Dana Walden, Co-Chairman of The Walt Disney
Amanda Blanc, CEO of Aviva
Susan Li, CFO of Meta
Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone
Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO and Asset Management at JPMorgan
Lynn Martin, President, NYSE Group; Chair, ICE Fixed Income And Data Services, New York Stock Exchange
Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance, Indonesia
Gina Rinehart, Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting
Lisa Su, CEO of AMD
Vicki Hollub, President and CEO of Occidental Petroleum
Nicke Widyawati, CEO of Pertamina
Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO & Managing Director of Macquarie Group
Tricia Griffith, President & CEO of The Progressive
Jessica Tan, Co-CEO of Ping An
Judy Faulkner, Founder & CEO of Epic Systems
Tokiko Shimizu, Executive Director of Bank of Japan
Donna Langley, Chairman, NBC Universal Studio Group & Chief Content Officer, NBC Universal
Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios
Roshni Nadar Malhotra, CEO HCL Corporation & Chairperson of HCL Technologies
Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton
Yuriko Koike, Governor of Toyko
Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice
Geetanjali Shree, Novelist
Serena Williams, Athlete
Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS
Tarciana Paula Gomes Medeiros, President and CEO of Banco Brazil
Shonda Rhimes, Television Producer and Screenwriter
Rachel Hollis, Author and Speaker
Hannah Fry, Mathematician, Academic, Speaker and Host
Shani Dhanda, British Disability Activist
Robin Roberts, Television Broadcaster
Elaine Zhou, Chief Technology Officer at Change.org
Alissa Abdullah, Chief Security Officer at Mastercard
Yamini Rangan, CEO of Hubspot
Dr. Lauren Goodwin, Chief Information Officer for NASA’s Johnson Space Center and White Sands Test Facility
Women featured continued (and their positions as of 2024):
Hana Al Rostamani, Group CEO of First Abu Dhabi Bank
Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News
Lynn Good, Chairman, President & CEO of Duke Energy
Sinead Gorman, CFO of Royal Dutch Shell
Bela Bajaria, Chief Content Officer at Netflix
Melanie Kreis, CFO of Deutche Post DHL Group
Belen Garijo, CEO of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany And Its Affiliates
Paula Santilli, CEO of Pepsico Latin America
Mette Fredericksen, Prime Minister of Denmark
Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China Holdings
Rihanna, Musician
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador To The UN, United Nations
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder, Chair And Managing Director of Biocon
Guler Sabanci, Chair of Sabanci Holding
Trudy Shan Dai, CEO of Taobao And Tmall Group, Alibaba Group
Debra Crew, CEO of Diageo
Robyn Denholm, Chair of Tesla
Solina Chau, Cofounder of Horizons Ventures
Lee Boo-jin, President and CEO of Hotel Shilla
Robyn Grew, CEO of Man Group
Zuzana Caputova, President of Slovakia
Mary Meeker, General Partner at Bond Capital
Makiko Ono, President And CEO of Suntory Beverage & Food
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of World Trade Organization
Mpumi Madisa, CEO of Bidvest
Melanie Perkins, CEO and Co-Founder of Canva
Dominique Senequier, Founder & President of Ardian
Raja Al Gurg, Group MD & Chairperson of Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group
Julia Gillard, Chair of Wellcome Trust
Samia Suluhu Hasan, President of Tanzania
Xiomara Castro, President of Honduras
Kirsten Green, Founder And Managing Partner of Forerunner
Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver
Jenny Lee, Senior Managing Partner of Granite Asia
Mo Abudu, Media Mogul, Philanthropist, Founder of EbonyLife Media
Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados
Phoebe Philo, Fashion Designer
Mira Murati, CTO of Open AI
Janet Truncale, CEO of Elect EY
Karin Keller Sutter, Finance Minister of Switzerland
Lisa Dyson, CEO of Kiverdi and Air Protein
Marina Silva, Minister of Environment, Brazil
Marie-Claire Daveu, CSO of Kering Group
Barbara Kingsolver, Author and Publizer Prize Winner
Lola Shoneyin, Writer and Festival Organizer
Narges Mohammadi, Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Katalin Kariko, Biochemist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, Screenwriter
Elizabeth Maruma, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States
Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta, LeanIn.org
Virginia (Ginni) Rometty, former CEO of IBM and current Co-Chair of OneTen
Dolly Parton, Entertainer and Philanthropist
Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International
Cynthia Marshall, CEO of Dallas Mavericks
Kathrin Jansen, Former Head of Vaccine Research and Development at Pfizer
Esther Perel, Author and Therapist
Mel Robbins, Author and Speaker
Radhika Jones, Editor-in-Chief of Vanity Fair
Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder and CEO of Bumble
Marie Eitel, Founder and Chair of the Nike Foundation and Girl Effect
Katrina, Founder and Chair of Stitch Fix
Holly O’Neill, President of Retail Banking at Bank of America
Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of Greece
Saara Kuugongelwa, Prime Minister of Namibia
Maia Sandu, President of Moldova
Behind the scenes…
Here you can see the process of making the embossed wall paper. Wet paper is pressed on laser cut plywood mold. Special thanks to my awesome studio assistant, Jack Rowe!