Suspended in the atrium of Wrightwood 659 in Chicago is a three-story installation of vibrant prayer flags in yellow, green, white, red, and blue cascading from above. Five sculptural horses emerge through the lush curtain of textiles at varying points, appearing to gallop mid-air.
Each flag’s color refers to the five elements and states of mind in Tibetan Buddhism. Yellow, for example, denotes earth and wisdom, while green references water and equanimity. White is air and purity, blue is space and endurance, and red refers to fire and compassion.
By Bhutanese artist Asha Kama Wangdi, the monumental work utilizes the Buddhist tradition of lungta (wind horses), which are symbols of positive energy and good luck thought to carry prayers to the heavens. For this installation, the artist collected tattered and worn flags that broken loose and scattered across the landscape. This shift from spiritual object to a source of pollution inspired Asha Kama Wangdi, as he explored the contradiction between sacred practice and environmental care.
“The Windhorse” is one of dozens of works included in Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now, a large-scale exhibition curated by Michelle Bennett Simorella of the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in New York. As the title suggests, the show aims to present a more contemporary view of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and other Himalayan regions.
Bennett Simorella tasked 28 artists with pairing objects from the Rubin’s collection with their works, contextualizing today’s aesthetic and making practices within a long history of artists and crafters. Featuring works from across hundreds of miles of the Himalayan region, Reimagine is broad in scope, style, and medium, yet retains several throughlines.
For example, New York-based artist Losel Yauch presents a riderless cavalry of woven horses in “Procession Immemorial,” which similarly draws on the concept of wind horses. Stitched onto their silk coats are images from stories the artist’s grandfather shared about fighting for freedom in his home of Kham in east Tibet.
Also on view is a vibrant collection of paintings Shraddha Shrestha, who reinterprets the doe-eyed Powerpuff Girls as Hindu gods and goddesses. The artist was raised in Petan, one of Nepal’s most historic cities, and shares in a statement:
Growing up in a conservative, patriarchal Newari household meant staying within a lot of cultural, social, and gender boundaries. All the girls and women in my family were used to catcalling, unwanted stares from the neighbors, being scolded by male family members for dressing with our knees showing, getting judged for walking with a male friend, and being shouted at for reaching home after dark.
After school, Shraddha Shrestha enjoyed watching American cartoons, particularly the trio with superpowers. These animated characters soon became fixtures in her imaginary world, which combined facets of her home city with the girls’ strong-willed attitudes.
“Womanhood should be celebrated. Instead, we need to fight for basic things like education, work, health, and more,” she says. “Doesn’t it contradict the tradition we believe in? Doesn’t it disrespect the deities we worship?”
The second iteration of Reimagine, which was originally shown at the Rubin earlier this year, is on view through February 15.
