PHAROS is committed to the values of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) as well as to cultivating a culture of care, collaboration, and community for all researchers regardless of individual identity or background.
The consortium acknowledges that photo archive collections are shaped by the histories of collecting and creating knowledge about art and are inextricably linked with the people and institutions that have amassed these data banks of images over many decades. The Eurocentric focus of academic and collecting institutions has been complicit in creating and perpetuating bias. As part of its mission, PHAROS is engaged in scholarly communication and dialogue that contributes to the ongoing work of undoing discriminatory systems based on race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and ability—both in the organization and in the fields of art history, collecting studies, photography studies, and museology at large.