Life is full, time moves fast, and I am still processing the incredible grand opening experience of the new Trout Museum of Art.
I am honored to share that I am the guest curator of one of the inaugural exhibitions Trout Museum of Art’s new building in Appleton, Wisconsin. This project has been over a year in the making.
View of the two main galleries where Guiding Ethos is on exhibit. Not in photo: video gallery.
Guiding Ethos is an invitational group exhibition of 25 national and international artists whose practices engage storytelling as both record and resistance. The exhibition explores how art can serve as a tool for direct action, cultural stewardship, and community care.
Through personal narrative, historical reflection, and collective memory, the artists in Guiding Ethos challenge dominant histories and imagine new futures. Their work, spanning installation, painting, textile, sculpture, and digital media, documents lived experience while actively shaping the social and cultural landscapes around them.
Guiding Ethos was borne from a persistent question I have grappled with—is it possible to create ethical and honest work in the context of colonial systems, in a nation built on a foundation of enslavement, exploitation, and stolen land? Are diversity initiatives destined to be coopted, exploited, and mistrusted—and then met with resentment and retaliation? What does genuine reclamation of cultural authorship mean?
My gratitude goes out to Ann Weuve and Christina Turner from the Trout Museum of Art, who invited me over a year ago to curate one of the inaugural exhibitions for the new museum. I also thank the TMA staff for all your hard work to bring this exhibition to life. I thank the 25 artists who said yes to being a part of Guiding Ethos. Thank you, all of you, for trusting and supporting my vision and making this exhibition possible.
Stay tuned for an exhibition catalogue and final documentation. For now, here are some photos from mine and other people’s phones.
Artists David Najib Kasir, Fatima Laster, Rosy Petri, and other guests with guest curator Jenie Gao walking on Fatima Laster’s Gentrification Welcome Runner.Whess Harman’s Potlatch Punk series in foreground. In background: Christy Chan, Daesha Devón Harris, Nipinet Landsem.Panel discussion on Artists & Communities, with Fatima Laster, David Najib Kasir, and Rosy Petri, moderated by Jenie Gao.
View of first gallery of Guiding Ethos at Trout Museum of Art. Artists’ works in picture include: Thea Canlas, Rosy Petri, Fatima Laster, William PK Carter, Nirmal Raja, David Najib Kasir, Christine Wong Yap, Valaria Tatera.An elderly couple views Kiki Salem’s textile artwork, Homeland Security. To the right is Sarah K. Khan’s Vigilant Defiance: To Arms Freedom Fighter Abebach (Myrrh) and Weapons of Mass Creation/Destruction: Defend or Destroy?
GALLERIES + ARTWORK CLOSE-UPS
Christy Chan’s Banned But Here: A Response to CensorshipOverview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Whess Harman’s Potlatch Punk series with Noel Maghathe and Nina Ghanbarzadeh in background.Overview of exhibition.Christine Wong Yap in foreground. Kiki Salem in background.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Christine Wong Yap in foreground. David Najib Kasir in background.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Noel Maghathe and Rosy Petri.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Khim Hipol’s Shining Shadow and Korona with Guiding Ethos title text.Helen Lee’s Take Safety Home With You with Khim Hipol.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.Valaria Tatera’s Back Off My Snatch.Overview of exhibition.Overview of exhibition.David Najib Kasir’s oil paintings.Overview of exhibition.Whess Harman and Noel Maghathe.Christy Chan’s Banned But Here: A Response to Censorship.Whess Harman in foreground. Daesha Devón Harris, Nipinet Landsem, and Valaria Tatera in background.Overview of exhibition.Noel Maghathe’s Over everything (Situ and Amo), From Now Until (Situ in the Verndana), Morning of Roses (Eid Morning, Sammar)
ARTWORK CLOSE-UPS
Rosy Petri’s ALL OF US OR NONE OF US.Nirmal Raja’s Feeble Barriers.William PK Carter’s Yet the Serpent Refused to DieWilliam PK Carter’s The Power of Depiction.William PK Carter’s The Power of Depiction.Brianna Hernández’s Útilos Curativos.Noel Maghathe’s From Now Until (Situ in Verndana) and Morning of Roses (Eid Morning, Sammar)Daesha Devón Harris’ I’ve Got a Home series.Christine Wong Yap’s What do you do to care for a community? Interactive program.Christine Wong Yap’s What do you do to care for a community? Interactive program.Fatima Laster’s Gentrification Welcome Runner in foreground. Helen Lee’s Take Safety Home With You in background.Close-up of Fatima Laster’s Gentrification Welcome Runner.Rehab Nazzal’s Canada Park in the video gallery.Rehab Nazzal’s Canada Park in the video gallery.Rehab Nazzal’s Canada Park in the video gallery.Sarah K. Khan’s print and porcelain guns.Tshab Her’s A Flag for the Hmong.Ger Xiong’s story quilts.
PEOPLE
Guest Curator Jenie Gao and TMA Executive Director Christina Turner.Jenie Gao and spouse Christopher Patterson.Jenie Gao and Graeme Reid from MOWA.Artist Fatima Laster and guests walking on Gentrification Welcome Runner.Guest Curator Jenie Gao, TMA Curator Ann Weuve, TMA Board Member Leila MousaiBoard Member Leila Mousai speaking at the grand opening. Christina Turner standing to the right. Above on the video screen behind the reception desk is the show promotion, including William PK Carter as the cover artwork for Guiding Ethos.Guest Curator Jenie Gao and TMA Executive Director Christina Turner with Guiding Ethos exhibition.Guest Curator Jenie Gao standing on Gentrification Welcome Runner by Fatima Laster.Artists, curators, and visitors in the Guiding Ethos exhibition during the grand opening of Trout Museum of Art.Museum exhibition title text from exterior of building.Trout Museum of Art main entrance.
