Secretary of Transportation Jim Gray’s mayoral portrait was unveiled today at City Hall before a crowd of family, friends and supporters.
The portrait, a photo collage by UK Photography Professor James Robert Southard, will hang in the Urban County Council Chamber, along with the portraits of all of the mayors who have served Lexington since the merged local government began operating in 1974.
“It was the privilege of a lifetime to serve as Mayor, especially alongside all the talented people in the administration and government,” Gray said.
Southard said “hundreds of images” were edited together to create the portrait. The portrait shows Gray at home with his dog, May Lake, at his feet.
“This portrait tells the story of Mayor Gray’s vision for our city. It is full of references to the progress our city made during his administration, and to the people who worked with him,” Mayor Linda Gorton said.
The portrait includes images of the Historic Courthouse, which Gray restored, plus a newspaper carrying the story of his decision to relocate the Confederate statues from the Courthouse lawn; the names of members of his administration on the spines of books; a photograph of 21C Museum Hotel, which opened in Lexington’s historic Fayette National Bank Building during Gray’s term; the reinvented Rupp Arena and Central Bank Center; a Lexington flag; the city seal; Kentucky symbols; and much more.
