Upcoming Exhibitions
Gateway to Himalayan Art
Oct. 17, 2026 – Jan. 10, 2027
Gateway to Himalayan Art introduces the main forms, concepts, meanings, and religious traditions of Himalayan art with objects from the collection of the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, New York. Covering the greater Himalayan region, which encompasses Indian, Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Tibetan cultures as well as interrelated Mongolian and Chinese traditions, Gateway to Himalayan Art invites exploration of these diverse cultural spheres through exemplary objects presented in three thematic sections: Symbols and Meanings, Materials and Technologies, and Living Practices. It also includes voices from Himalayan artists and contemporaries, along with connections to related digital content to learn more.
Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha
Life Story of Buddha Shakyamuni
Mandala of Chakrasamvara
Handheld Prayer Wheel
Tsherin Sherpa (b. 1968, Kathmandu; lives and works in San Francisco)
We Are Connected: Highlights from the USC Pacific Asia Museum Himalayan Collection
Oct. 17, 2026 – May 2, 2027
We Are Connected explores how the peoples of the Himalayas have understood their relationships with one another, the natural world, and the spiritual realm through centuries of artistic expression. Drawn primarily from the USC Pacific Asia Museum’s substantial Himalayan collection, the exhibition features about 42 works, including paintings, sculptures, ritual objects, textiles, and works of decorative art —many on view for the first time in decades—revealing ideas of interconnectedness unique to the cultures in Tibet, Nepal, and parts of India and China. Organized around themes of the cosmos, communal celebration, and the connections between humans and animals, the exhibition explores Buddhist concepts of spiritual transformation, the role of art and ritual in bringing communities together, and the presence of mythical and sacred figures such as the Snow Lion, Garuda, and Ganesha. Together, the works invite visitors to reflect on humanity’s relationship with the environment, the animal world, and one another.
BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI WITH ARHATS
PADMASAMBHAVA AND THE NYINGMA REFUGE TREE
KRISHNA YAMARI AND VAJRAVETALI
ELEVEN-FACED, EIGHT-ARMED AVALOKITESHVARA
YAMANTAKA-VAJRABHAIRAVA MANDALA
DRAGON ROBE
TABLE FRONT
TABLE
STORAGE BOX
BLUE AND WHITE STEM CUP WITH SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION
PURPLE AND BLUE GLAZED AND METAL MOUNT EWER
Hung Liu: Secret Freedom
Dec. 12, 2026 – July 3, 2027
Groundbreaking Chinese American artist Hung Liu (1948–2021) came of age under Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, when artistic expression was tightly controlled and painting outside official doctrine carried real risk. Featuring approximately 75 works—including the first public presentation of paintings Liu created secretly in the Mogao caves at Dunhuang in 1980—the exhibition reveals how, in the face of political repression, she built an artistic practice in China, then immigrated to the United States in 1984, where she transformed those formative experiences into the distinctive visual language that would define one of the most influential artistic careers of the past half century. Through documentary photographs, hidden sketchbooks, the rarely exhibited Secret Freedom series of miniature paintings (1972–1975), archival materials, and major paintings from the Hung Liu Estate and Los Angeles collections, the exhibition uncovers the origins of an artist whose work transformed personal memory into a powerful meditation on history, freedom, and creative survival.
Hung Liu My Secret Freedom 34
Hung Liu My Secret Freedom 33
Hung Liu Dunhuang_Three Dancers
Hung Liu Village Photograph Chrysanthemum Shirt
Hung Liu Portrait of a Chinese Self 2
Ten Years to Sharpen a Sword: Lauren YS Featuring Makoto
Dec. 12, 2026 – July 3, 2027
Ten Years to Sharpen a Sword marks the first solo museum exhibition by internationally recognized artist Lauren YS, whose vibrant, high-energy murals and paintings create immersive worlds where ancestral memory and queer embodiments intertwine, often with hybrid beings that are part creature and inspired by East Asian mythology. With a title drawn from Jia Dao’s Tang Dynasty poem The Swordsman, the exhibition features newly commissioned works premiering at USC Pacific Asia Museum, including a site-specific interior mural, paintings, sculptures, and lenticulars (images that shift as viewers move around them) created with longtime collaborator Makoto. The exhibition explores Lauren YS’s richly imagined narratives of protective spirits, monsters, lovers, and tricksters, while examining identity, transformation, and the fluid boundaries of self and belonging. Earlier works provide context for the artist’s evolving practice.
Closed
Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry
Feb. 14 – Sept. 6, 2026
A major exhibition that transforms USC Pacific Asia Museum into an immersive journey through myth and the immigrant story, Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry is sweeping in scale and deeply personal in tone, its narrative written in verse in a voice evocative of a wise uncle to a loved one. The exhibition draws approximately 100 objects from USC PAM’s significant collection—which spans more than 5,000 years and
includes art from East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, and the Pacific Islands and their diasporas— blending them with new and interactive media technology and works by 24 contemporary artists , most commissioned for the exhibition. The result is an interdisciplinary experience in which visitors engage with the past through creative activations of pan-Asian mythology that ignite feeling and memory.
Dave Young Kim
MC Instal 3 Gautam Rangan Four Guardians Photo JWPictures
MC Instal 1 Money Toad Photo JWPictures CROP
MC Instal 4 Night Crossing Photo JWPictures
MC Instal 6 Unfolding Albums, Unalterable Altars Photo JWPictures
Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry installation view. The Apartment. USC Pacific Asia Museum. Photo: Joshua White/JW Pictures
MC Instal 5 Greg Ito My Memories of You Are an Island Photo JWPictures
MC Instal 2 Village of New Beginings Photo JWPictures CROP
Summer Sprinkler Dance #2 (Wet Socks) 48 x 60
DQL_Portrait of the Palace
Vase, Tang Woo
Phoenix
Past Exhibitions
USC PAM is a dynamic, imaginative, and innovative teaching and learning resource for USC and surrounding communities, featuring an exhibition program that connects the past and present. Amplifying artist voices and lifting up community narratives, our special exhibitions reflect the diversity of our Asian communities across USC and Los Angeles and serve as a springboard for thought-provoking discussions about the most prescient issues at the center of Asian American transnational life and experience including; belonging, identity and memory.
As a museum dedicated entirely to the Pacific Asia world, USC PAM is uniquely positioned to help expand visitors’ understanding of historical and cultural contexts of the artworks displayed in our galleries and special exhibitions. Our museum focuses on representation of the incredible diversity of Asia and the Pacific Islands and their diasporas in each of our special exhibitions.
Through object selection, didactics, and further contextual elements, the goal of our exhibitions is to instill curiosity and create meaningful insight for visitors to see the complexity of Asian art and culture and to connect to the contexts and meanings behind the artworks displayed. Because of this effort, visitors have the opportunity to expand their understanding of an incredibly important, yet often misunderstood, part of the world.
Visitors also have the opportunity to find connections to their own unique experiences and interests by exploring our museum’s offerings.
Sign Up for Our Newsletter
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Pacific Asia Museum. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
*For Select Newsletter, type the email list/s that you would like to join: Volunteer opportunities, Adult public programs, Family workshops, or Press Releases.