Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, DUCK created a series of educational films exploring the gender gap in the art history world, asking why only twenty-seven out of over two thousand works in their collection were painted by women. Developed in close collaboration with the museum and its curators, the films were crafted to inform and inspire and were produced in time to mark International Women’s Day.

Filming inside one of the UK’s most iconic and carefully protected institutions brought with it a host of technical challenges. Working after-hours, our team navigated restricted access, tight turnarounds, and delicate lighting conditions to capture the paintings without disrupting the authenticity of the artworks’ colour, tone, or texture. A custom-built, art-directed studio was built inside the gallery to film interviews discussing pioneering artists Artemisia Gentileschi, Rachel Ruysch, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, and Rosa Bonheur.

The result is a visually rich, insightful series that brings underrepresented stories in art history to light executed with care, creativity, and craft.