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When the Memphis Museum of Science & History (MoSH) booked the Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement exhibit from the Newseum for the Summer of 2022, it also received an IMLS grant to create a second exhibit of equal size exploring the experience of the LGBTQ+ community in Memphis. This gave rise to Memphis Proud: The Resilience of a Southern LGBTQ Community.

While the traveling exhibit explores how the 1969 police raid of the Stonewall Inn in New York City gave rise to the modern gay rights movement in the United States, Memphis Proud taps into the heart of this Southern city and is all locally curated. Memphis Proud examines the history and culture of the LGBTQ population and explores how LGBTQ+ Memphians of diverse backgrounds and experiences have come together to form thriving communities and provide powerful voices for change and acceptance in Memphis.

“This exhibit was possible because Memphis’ LBGTQ citizens have remained committed to creating strong communities and to fostering a culture of activism,” says Raka Nandi, Director of Exhibits and Collections for MoSH. “The history of the local LGBTQ+ community is one of tremendous diversity, and the exhibit has attempted to emphasize the importance of queer organizations and culture to the Mid-South.”

The creators of the exhibit assembled a committee of 20 local community leaders, LGBTQ+ activists, and allies of the LGBTQ+ movement that met monthly to help create the movement’s authentic stories, and led discussions on housing, education, nightlife, religion, and allies of their fight for acceptance and inclusion. The exhibit draws attention to the accomplishments of local leaders who have led the charge in this city to

From Memphis Proud exhibition: Memphis Gay Pride March 1981. Photo by John Parrott; courtesy of Pride Archives.

fight for the dignity and humanity of their community and introduces a new generation of activists who continue to challenge discrimination and increase the visibility and influence of the LGBTQ population of Memphis. The Rise Up and Memphis Proud exhibits open June 4 and run through September 26. For full information, visit MoshMemphis.com

VIRGINIA

This past February, Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits opened at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. On view through October 16, 2022, the exhibition features 40 works by the Nepalese-born Tibetan American artist, whose paintings and sculptures address themes of identity, struggle, loss, wisdom, and empowerment. Sherpa’s distinctive works, informed by his knowledge of traditional Buddhist art, explore contemporary concerns that he has encountered as an artist living and working both in his homeland of Nepal and in the United States.

Born in Kathmandu, Tsherin Sherpa learned the traditional art of Tibetan thangka painting from his father, Urgen Dorje. These devotional paintings, whose motifs and iconography depict scenes from the life of Buddha and other deities, serve as teaching tools that are used in Buddhist ceremonies, as well as for personal meditation.

Sherpa left Nepal in 1988 to study computer science in Taiwan but then returned to resume painting while also studying Buddhist philosophy. In 1998, a sponsorship from a Buddhist center in Northern California brought him to the United States. While practicing and teaching traditional painting, Sherpa was energized and inspired by his students to expand his own knowledge of art from around the world. In 2007, he was commissioned to make a thangka for their Himalayan collection of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The Three Protectors of Tibet, which was featured in VMFA’s 2019 exhibition Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment, is one of the last traditional paintings Sherpa created.

“It’s truly his masterpiece in the traditional style,” notes Dr. John Henry Rice, VMFA’s E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, who got to know Sherpa shortly before Awaken. During the run of that exhibition Sherpa was an artist-in-residence at the museum, demonstrating and discussing his techniques for a series of public programs. Rice notes that Sherpa has a gift for connecting with his audiences. “He’s a thoughtful, open person, who knows how to talk about his art and his journey as an artist,” Rice says.

A subsequent VMFA Member Trip to Nepal and Bhutan, which included tours of both Sherpa’s and his father’s studios, convinced Rice that a retrospective of his work would be popular. “I saw how consistently people reacted to him with such great enthusiasm and fascination with his work,” Rice says. “People who are into Buddhism or not, people who are into contemporary art, or not. It was different for everyone, but they all saw something that spoke to them and intrigued them.”

The exhibition draws from an important series titled “Spirits,” which Sherpa started in 2009 and spans the entire length of his contemporary career. “It’s the work in which he is most invested and through which we can track his development as a contemporary painter,” Rice says. Sherpa himself refers to it as his most personal collection. These works explore his experiences as a Himalayan living in diaspora.

This exhibition is organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and curated by Dr. John Henry Rice, VMFA’s E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art.

Catalogue for the VMFA’s exhibition Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits.