FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, D-Ky., unveiled the portraits of the four newest inductees to the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort earlier this month. Each inductee has made significant contributions to their respective field and now has their portrait permanently displayed in the Capitol, joining a distinguished group of women who have made lasting impacts on Kentucky history.
“For too long these accomplishments were not celebrated, and that is why this exhibit and the work being done by Kentucky’s Commission on Women is vital,” Lt. Gov. Coleman said at an event commemorating Women’s History Month, where the new portraits were unveiled.
The exhibit’s four newest inductees are civil rights activist Alberta Jones, one of the first African American women to pass the Kentucky Bar and the first female prosecutor in Kentucky; poet laureate Ada Limón, the author of six poetry books including “The Carrying,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; author Kim Michele Richardson, a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today, author and advocate; and sculptor Amanda Matthews, who reshaped Kentucky history with her statue of Nettie Depp, the first statue of a woman inside the Capitol. Matthews also created the Kentucky COVID Memorial, in the Capitol campus’s memorial garden.
Gov. Beshear first announced the induction of these women to the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit in Nov. 2024.
“What we choose to hold in a place of honor in our Capitol demonstrates our shared priorities and our shared values, and here in Kentucky, we recognize the incredible contributions of the women of our Commonwealth,” Gov. Beshear said before the portraits were unveiled. “At a time when the U.S. Department of Defense refuses to celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re going to do so loudly and proudly here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
The artist who created the portrait of Amanda Matthews, Ming Xuan Talley of Kentucky, incorporated some people who Matthews has honored through sculpture in her own portrait, making it a deeply personal and moving depiction of the sculptor’s art and advocacy.
“She included so many other faces of women who I sculpted, which was so important to me and so impactful that it wasn’t just a portrait of me, that it was truly a portrait of other women as well,” Matthews said. “My purpose is to honor those who have been left out of history in some way—women and other people who are in marginalized communities. My efforts have never been to bring attention to myself, but to bring attention to others whose voices should be lifted up—but this is truly an honor.”
The Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit began as a display at the 1978 Kentucky State Fair. In 1996, it was permanently moved to the West Wing of the State Capitol, where, according to the governor’s office, it is visited by thousands of Kentuckians every year. Until 2024, there had been no additions to the exhibit since 2014.
