Julie Packard is a leading ocean conservationist, so when the National Portrait Gallery approached her to sit for a portrait, she had one request: She wanted to work with an artist who could paint water. That artist, it turns out, is Hope Gangloff. Kim talks to both women on the day of the portrait's unveiling for a behind-the-scenes account of what it's like when the Gallery is your matchmaker.

Check out Hope’s portrait of Julie on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/underwater

You might see her leaning against a building on the street, or sitting across from you on your morning commute, pad in hand. Or, you might not have noticed her at all. Wendy talks about her 'drawn journalism' -- sketches and snippets of conversation that convey little slices of life, and connect us to bigger stories in the news.

Check out the illustrations we discussed on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/on-beat

When author Sheryll Cashin looks at a photograph of Mildred Loving, she doesn't just see a woman who went to the Supreme Court to strike down a ban on interracial marriage. She sees a complicated person, struggling herself with questions of race and identity. Cashin puts Loving's life in historical and geographical

See the portraits we discussed with Sheryll at our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/loving

If you were a man with property in the 19th century, there's a good chance you sat for a portrait at some point. If you were an enslaved person, a Native American, or an immigrant, there's a good chance you did not. Jill Lepore addresses this lopsidedness, or asymmetry, of history as she shares her own efforts to excavate the stories of people overlooked in the official account. Sometimes this means tracking down a portrait.

You can see the portraits we discussed with Jill at our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/lepore

Art, biography, history and identity collide in this podcast from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, launching on June 18, 2019. Join Director Kim Sajet as she chats with artists, historians, and thought leaders about the big and small ways that portraits shape our world. Subscribe now!

Find the portraits we discuss at our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts