In celebration of Black History Month, Wikimedia Foundation, the global nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, announced the launch of Wiki Unseen, a collaboration with artists aimed at expanding the visual representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in Wikimedia projects.
Launched on February 9th, the first iteration of the project, a collaboration with artists from Africa, North America, and the Caribbean, will help to address the visual and written underrepresentation of several Black historical figures on Wikipedia. In addition to global artists, the Foundation will collaborate with AfroCROWD.org and Bēhance to improve information about Black culture and history on Wikipedia and to showcase creative work.
The Wikimedia Foundation and AfroCROWD.org worked together to select 20 Wikipedia articles of BIPOC historical figures without visual representation. It further collaborated with Bēhance to source a list of artists from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean to create portraits of each. The artists will create portraits for six of 20 total historical figures this year.
The commissioned artists include Enam Bosokah from Ghana, Esther Griffith from Trinidad, and Bukhtawar Malik from the United States. Among the first articles that will feature new illustrations are: Marian Ewurama Addy, William Greaves, Rose Dieng-Kuntz, May Miller,
Mercedes Richards, and Asquith Xavier. These portraits will be published throughout February; they include personalities whose images are not freely licensed and therefore unable to be added to Wikipedia articles.
“Wiki Unseen aims to make Black histories and those of other people underrepresented on Wikipedia more visible,” said Anusha Alikhan, Vice President of Communications at the Wikimedia Foundation.
“Closing knowledge equity gaps — including visual ones — is key to ensuring Wikimedia projects are accessible to everyone and represent the breadth of the world’s cultures, experiences, and languages. We know that our work is incomplete until the diversity of our world’s histories are seen.”
Esther Griffith said she is excited to be part of the project and intends to re-illustrate Caribbean history.
“The Caribbean is rich in culture and heritage. That such rich biographies of people contributing to Caribbean history would not have visual representation is a shame, and I am excited that I am contributing towards re-illustrating the history of my region,” said Griffith. “With each biography that is illustrated, we are making a statement that it is possible to redraw history, and I hope more artists will join me on this journey,” said Griffith.
Wiki Unseen builds on the previous efforts of Wikimedia volunteers, including Les sans pagEs, a French Wikipedia initiative, and the #VisibleWikiWomen campaign by Whose Knowledge? that ran similar projects to bridge gender gaps.
