Watching the show go into the gallery has been uplifting. People passing through, the cleaners, museum staff, the visitors who are trying to take a sneak preview, all are fascinated by the size and power of the portraits. Frequently asked questions are ‘Who are all these people’, ‘What do they do?’, which will hopefully be answered when the captions are next to each image, the introductory panels have arrived from London, and the doors are open to all to come in and view.

Its a strange experience to see how moving the images from their resting places on the ground to their new homes a bit higher on the wall gives them such presence. Some of the Obama team look truly scared by this process of making their portrait, others challenge you straight on. Some obviously want to be relaxed, whilst some of them almost hide behind the props they have bought with them. One or two appear to be in action and full of energy, whilst many are very still and yet a little nervous.

The curator from Flowers Gallery, Chris Littlewood, and the Flowers technician – would you believe he is called Dave Hanger… have been busy today building the ‘corridor of power’ where will be hung the lightboxes showing images of the Washington Monuments by night. The Lincoln memorial is where Martin Luther King gave his famous ‘I have a dream‘ speech, in 1963. Five years later and he was shot dead, leading to major riots across the USA.

It’s true to say that part of his dream was for people of different races to live in harmony. It’s probably true to say that he would never have imagined that 36 years after his dream speech, there would be the first black president of the united states.

So I was reminded today that though this is an exhibition of portraits, it is so much more. The pieces of the show build a story, one which has references to the history of black civil rights in the USA, and one which is related also to the amazing show about the story of The Supremes, which is also on at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Tomorrow we are building in the computer in the gallery, so that visitors will be able to visit this site and add in their comments about the pictures and all that they inspire in them – whether that is photographic, political, or just plain curiosity.