Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is a kaleidoscope of textiles, paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works that celebrate our humanity and imperfections. Drawn from the personal collection of Komal Shah and her husband, Gaurav Garg, co-founder and managing partner of Wing Venture Capital in Silicon Valley, the exhibition centers on abstract art and explores themes of representation, identity, and power through women's eyes.
Abstract art emerged in the 20th century as a movement with various styles, relying on shapes, colors, forms, and gestural marks rather than depicting reality. Featured in the exhibit, artists use everyday materials such as women’s pantyhose and leftover paper from a hole puncher to push the limits of abstraction, all while reclaiming their autonomy, embracing their bodies, and defying negative beliefs about women aging. Contributors such as Kay WalkingStick, Joan Semmel, and Samia Halaby are in their eighties and nineties. Despite decades of obscurity and a lack of institutional recognition, the exhibit is a testament to women’s craft, creativity, and resilience, affirming that through it all, women continue to create with conviction and confidence, telling our own stories on a canvas.
“Many of the artists who moved me most were women of my generation who were actively reinventing abstraction. - Komal Shah”
This statement draws attention to what seems like a deliberate choice — bringing the exhibition to the nation’s capital at a moment when funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, safe spaces, and the organizations that support them is being stripped away. The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) holds a singular distinction: it is the first and largest museum in the world solely dedicated to women, housing over 6000 pieces from more than 1,500 artists – among them Indigenous, African, and Palestinian voices.
In a 1989 study of the Metropolitan Museum of Art by the Guerrilla Girls, it was found that women produced fewer than 5% of the works featured in Modern Art galleries, while a staggering 85% of the nudes were female. Since then, although these figures have changed, the disparity remains.
So, in many ways, the NMWA stands as a direct rebuke to these institutions. It’s that kind of gender inequality seen in the art world, as well as in her own career in a male-dominated field, that first inspired tech-aficionado-turned-art-collector Komal Shah.
Komal Shah, born and raised in Ahmedabad, India, initially found her bearings in the technology industry after discovering computer programming at a young age. It’s a career she held for nearly 20 years after completing her master’s degree from Stanford University in computer science/engineering, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, which led to jobs at Oracle, Netscape, and Yahoo! before she set her sights on philanthropy and the transformative power of art. Building her collection deliberately after stepping away from the world of computers and engineering, her passion has accumulated into nearly 400 and counting pieces of art from the likes of Elizabeth Murray, Trude Guermonprez, Rina Banerjee, Jennifer Bartlett, Laura Owens, Carol Bove, Carrie Moyer, Phyllida Barlow, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and Cecily Brown, establishing her as one of the most influential collectors in California. She also currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Asian Art Museum. She also serves on the acquisitions committees of the Hammer Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and MoMA, underscoring her reach and influence well beyond the Bay Area. It is through this same spirit of advocacy that Shah co-founded the Making Their Mark Foundation, which highlights women artists through scholarship, support, and public engagement.
The Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection will be on display at the National Museum of Women in the Arts from February 27th to July 26th. Admission is $16 for adults, and $13 for D.C. residents, visitors 65+, students, educators, active-duty military, veterans, and those with a Native/Tribal affiliation. For visitors 21 and under, with disabilities, and/or SNAP/EBT holders, admission is free. The museum is also free to all guests and visitors on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month.
Mary Holiman is a PhD student by day, and a polerina by night. A self-proclaimed arts-in-health enthusiast, she’s currently a PhD student in Communication, Culture, and Media Studies at Howard University, on the health communication track, with a focus on the intersection of the arts and public health.
I just saw this exhibit as part of an artconnexDC tour. I really enjoyed the diverse work and left feeling inspired. Highly recommend it.