{"id":45058,"date":"2025-11-11T15:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T15:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/45058\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T15:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T15:48:08","slug":"this-north-texas-art-exhibition-is-one-of-the-few-centering-the-south-asian-diaspora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/45058\/","title":{"rendered":"This North Texas art exhibition is one of the few centering the South Asian diaspora"},"content":{"rendered":"

Step close enough to Anusha Sekhar\u2019s \u201cNot So Fast Fashion\u201d and you\u2019ll notice pieces of sari fabric adorning the young woman depicted in the mixed media piece. <\/p>\n

Like in much of Sekhar\u2019s artwork, the piece features upcycled materials and speaks to mass consumerism that impacts South Asian women and girls across the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the clothing we buy in the United States, like the fast fashion, also gets made by children around that girl\u2019s age in other countries such as India, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Sekhar is one of more than a dozen artists from the South Asian diaspora with work in the Museum of Asian Texans\u2019 exhibition \u201cUntitled Homeland,\u201d which is open for viewing until Nov. 15. The exhibition features photos, newspaper clippings, artifacts and visual art that aim to explore one question: What does it look like to carry the culture and tradition of your ancestors to a new place? <\/p>\n

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Stephanie Drenka, co-founder of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society, which hosts the exhibition, said the South Asian diaspora is one of the fastest-growing communities in North Texas. <\/p>\n

The South Asian population in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is about 332,600, according to the Pew Research Center\u2019s analysis of census data. That includes people with ancestry from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more important than ever that we uplift and humanize these stories for people to counteract the anti-immigrant sentiment that we\u2019re facing in the state and throughout the country,\u201d Drenka said. <\/p>\n

Drenka said there\u2019s a rich history of South Asian communities in the U.S. and North Texas that often gets overlooked. One reason is Asian Americans of East Asian descent are often the focus. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really until after the 1965 Immigration Act that more immigrants from South Asia were able to come here. So in terms of the timeline of history, they\u2019re seen as relatively newer immigrants but they\u2019ve had significant contributions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A tapestry called \u201cWhitewash\u201d by Farzana Razzaque hangs in the “Untitled Homeland” exhibition about the South Asian diaspora in Dallas at the Museum of Asian Texans on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Kyla Gaganam, an artist based in Austin, curated the exhibition, which she said reflects on \u201cfinding a home wherever you come from.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think a large theme of the entire show was to provide spaces for Desi women specifically to showcase their art because the majority of our artists were women. And I wanted there to be discussions about caste, colorism, economic things that we all are impacted by whether we\u2019re living here or whether we are living abroad,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Her pieces, including The Woman Who Killed The Red Coat part one and two, are in the exhibition. The illustrations are hand-drawn on tea-stained paper, depicting vibrant scenes from cultural stories and her spiritual practice of sanatana dharma. Many of her pieces speak to colorism with many of the female figures she illustrates having darker skin. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s so important to learn how to interpret stories rather than practice them solely based off what you read, and I think education is a big component of a lot of my pieces as well,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

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The exhibition also features an old box TV playing a black-and-white Telugu film, paintings, wooden cutouts, a vintage tobacco set and a traditional Indian drum. In one corner, there\u2019s sports memorabilia including an old ledger from the Dallas County Cricket Club and photos of the shocking victory of the U.S. team against Pakistan in the 2024 ICC T20 Men\u2019s World Cup in Grand Prairie. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A collection of art by South Asian artists both in Dallas and from out of state is displayed in the “Untitled Homeland” exhibition at the Museum of Asian Texans on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Dallas. The wooden center piece shown \u201cRama Pattabhishekam – A Visual Ode to Dharma and Harmony\u201d was created by husband and wife Ravi and Mohana Kodimela.<\/p>\n

Angela Piazza \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

There\u2019s even a 2001 Dallas Morning News clipping about North Texan Dheeraj Kapuria, who oversaw the U.S. operations of Arlington-based ZEE TV, once the largest provider of Indian TV in the U.S. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they [South Asian Americans] feel seen in some way, whether it\u2019s because their culture is finally being represented or they relate to an aspect of the stories here and feel a connection with the artists or the people from the community that were so gracious to share some really important aspects of their lives,\u201d Drenka said. <\/p>\n

Details<\/p>\n

Through Nov. 15. \u201cUntitled Homeland\u201d exhibition at the Museum of Asian Texans. 1409 Botham Jean Blvd #110, Dallas, TX 75215. <\/p>\n

The exhibition will be open to the public on Nov. 8 and 9 from 12-5 p.m. and Nov. 15 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a special book club event from 1-3 p.m. that\u2019s open to the public. Visitors can make appointments to see the exhibition during the week. <\/p>\n

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This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access\u2019 journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Step close enough to Anusha Sekhar\u2019s \u201cNot So Fast Fashion\u201d and you\u2019ll notice pieces of sari fabric adorning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[16922,826,822,102,104,103,1915,823],"class_list":["post-45058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-artists","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-arts-access","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-museums","tag-visual-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}