Transforming Legacies exhibit at South Asia Institute showcases traditions, storytelling through art

An exhibit on the city's South Side is showcasing Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage in a new way.

While blending traditions and storytelling with dozens of artworks, it aims to teach visitors something more.

"It kind of all comes together and creates this beautiful reinterpretation of the original Greek Three Graces," said Sydney Barofsky, curator of collections.

It's more than a painting, it's a story.

"Now, the story behind this Three Graces reinterpretation is actually a personal one of the artist. So Sutkin would work in these studios and have an assistant who would come every day, make sure the artist was not starving, that he was fed," she said. 

And it's not the only story in the exhibit at the South Asia Institute at 1925 S. Michigan Ave. Transforming Legacies features 38 works of art, each telling a different story.

"Looking more or less at how modern and contemporary south asian artists are reinterpreting and essentially riffing on stories that are sometimes thousands of years old," Barofsky said.

One example includes a painting that tells the traditional story of a prince trying to impress a young lady.

"But in order to tell this story, what they're riding on and what this artist has created is this incredible kind of, you know, amalgamation of Muriel and Tom and Jerry, the minions, all of these different Mickey Mouse, different kinds of figures here that they are riding on, top of, which I just find so incredible,"  Barofsky said.

"To me, what I find really interesting in looking at some of the stories here, there's so much similarity between some of the stories that we're telling here, and that appear in other cultures as well," said Shireen Ahmad, co-founder and artistic director.

The paintings are from her and her husband's personal collection. 

"One of the reasons why we exist is because we want to share our culture, and by people understanding us and understanding our culture, we hope that there'll be a much more peaceful coexistence," she said.

That means sharing art of all kinds, including a concert of music from South Asia.

"There is one common humanity, and that's what we're here to emphasize. We have much more in common than our differences," she said.

Storytelling is another thing many cultures have in common. Stories like the ones told in paint.

"Stories are powerful, and art is powerful," Barofsky said.

Executive director Sangini Brahmbhatt said that the exhibit is a living dialogue between the past and present, memory and becoming. 

"As we recognize AAPI Heritage Month, we are reminded that these stories are not bound to a single moment. They shape our collective narrative every day. Spaces like this matter. They allow communities of color to be fully seen and invite deeper cross-cultural understanding. When we make space for each other's stories, we do more than preserve legacies. We transform them," she said.

Transforming Legacies runs through December 12.