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Artist Sarah Zapata's installation for the 8th Annual Atrium Project

Sarah Zapata: So the roots be known | Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

The here and now is a prison house … Some will say that all we have are the pleasures of this moment, but we must never settle for that minimal transport; we must dream and enact new and better pleasures, other ways of being in the world, and ultimately new worlds.
José Esteban Muñoz
Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity

For Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art’s eighth annual commissioned Atrium Project, New York-based artist Sarah Zapata (Peruvian American, born 1988) combines sculptural and textile techniques to create a vibrant and inviting site-specific installation. In her practice, she sources familiar materials—such as acrylic yarn and natural fibers—and traditional art forms including weaving, coiling, sewing, and latch hooking, to articulate the intersections of her plural identities: the daughter of a Peruvian immigrant; a first generation American born in Texas; and a queer woman raised in an Evangelical household.

In Sarah Zapata: So the roots be known, Zapata centers local lesbian and feminist histories from her research at the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. In part, this installation pays homage to Womontown, a group of primarily queer women who established a revolutionary community in the Longfellow (Dutch Hill) neighborhood of Kansas City in the late 1980s. Zapata’s use of abstracted tulip forms and shades of lavender draw inspiration from the Womontown banner while simultaneously evoking histories of queer resistance, as the color lavender came to be associated with gay and lesbian communities, and thus stigmatized, in the mid-twentieth century. Ladders—a recurring motif in Zapata’s work alluding to ideas of fantasy and transitional spaces—here make reference to the national lesbian magazine The Ladder (1956–1970), founded by the Daughters of Bilitis and later operated remotely by recognized writer and publisher Barbara Grier in Kansas City. 

Of special interest to the artist are methods of political protest and solidarity formed across cultures and countercultures, particularly those expressed through textiles, such as arpilleras, an artform created by Chilean women in resistance to the violent authoritarian dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a 54-ton tapestry displayed on the National Mall in 1985 in remembrance of the lives lost during the AIDS outbreak. Also of significance is Zapata’s inclusion of stripes, which were used in medieval Europe to identify individuals on the fringes of society, such as criminals and jesters. 

So the roots be known poetically underscores the resilience and labor of femme and queer voices by demonstrating the community-forming efforts of those seeking companionship, free speech, and safe harbor. Here, Zapata’s textile pieces are draped, suspended, and slumped along the wall, suggesting the many flags, banners, and quilts collaboratively constructed with the ambition of shaping better futures through solidarity and mutual care.

Sarah Zapata: So the roots be known is organized by Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and curated by Krista Alba, assistant curator.

Artist Talk | Sarah Zapata

Born in Texas and based in Brooklyn, Sarah Zapata is an artist who creates colorful, sensuous textile installations that engage issues of gender and labor, as well as cultural and personal identity. 

2011 B.F.A., Fibers, University of North Texas, Denton, TX

2022 Sarah Zapata: a resilience of things not seen, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI

2020 The Taxing of a Fruitful Procession, Museo MATE, Lima, Peru

2019 NADA HOUSE, Governor’s Island, NY

2018 MOTHA and Chris E. Vargas: Consciousness Raising, New Museum, New York, NY

2018 Anti Bodies, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY

2016 Siempre X, El Museo Del Barrio, New York, NY

Sarah Zapata Reveals Surprising Queer History In Kansas City At Kemper Museum Of Contemporary Art

A new installation at the Kemper Museum explores the history of Kansas City's lesbian utopia

Immersive Architectural Installations by Sarah Zapata Expand Rich Textile Traditions

The Textile Artist Employing Centuries-Old Practices and Pop Culture Imagery

Textile Artist Sarah Zapata Has More Than One Identity. Weaving Lets Her Bring Them All Together

5 Latinx Artists Using Abstraction to Address Precolonial Histories

Queer Artists in Their Own Words: Sarah Zapata Wants an Anti-Hero Society

Into: Sarah Zapata’s Hand-Woven Technicolor Dreamscapes

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Exhibitions are always free thanks to the generosity of members and other donors. Join or donate today to support free access to contemporary art.

Sarah Zapata: So the roots be known

Installation view, Sarah Zapata: So the roots be known, August 18, 2023–July 28, 2024, Atrium, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Photo: E.G. Schempf, 2023. 

Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home

Afghan Canadian artist Hangama Amiri combines painting and printmaking techniques with textiles, weaving together stories based on memories of her homeland and diasporic experience. 

Amiri fled Kabul with her family in 1996 when she was seven years old. Moving through numerous countries over several years, they immigrated to Canada in 2005 when Amiri was a teenager. Amiri’s choice of materials stems from autobiographical origins—her mother taught her to sew and her uncle was a tailor. Her textiles also reference the colors and fabrics she remembers in the bazaars and on the streets in Kabul. She sources her materials from an Afghan-owned shop in New York City’s fashion district, collaging with fabric and painting on the surfaces. Large-scaled with frayed edges, Amiri’s textile works are made from layering fabrics, piecing and sewing them together, so the fragments collectively characterize her home from a distance. Centered on the lives of women, she builds interiors that capture her protagonists within domestic and entrepreneurial spaces and amplify a collective struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan and around the world.

This exhibition is the artist’s solo museum debut and is accompanied by the artist’s first museum publication. The exhibition will be complemented by free public programs for a variety of ages and interests.

Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home is organized by Amy Smith-Stewart, chief curator, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, where it debuted in February 2023.

Featured Artworks

Hangama Amiri (Afghan Canadian, born 1989) lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. Amiri works predominantly in textiles to examine notions of home and the ways gender, social norms, and geopolitical conflict impact the daily lives of women, both in Afghanistan and in the diaspora. She is interested in the power of representation, especially of everyday objects. 

2020		M.F.A. Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT

2012		B.F.A. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax, NS

2005		B.F.A. Olimov College of Art, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

2024		A Homage to Home, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

2023 		Rumi: Distance Between Homes, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, ON

2023 		A Homage to Home, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT

2022 		Reminiscences, Union Pacific, London, UK

2023 		Silent Hands, Hayy Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2023 		Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah, UAE

2023 		Narrative Threads: Fiber Art Today, The Moody Centre for the Arts, Houston, TX

2022 		Qatra Qatra, Fondazione Imago Mundi, Gallerie delle Prigioni, Treviso, IT

2021 		Alphabetic Image, Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY

Image: Hangama Amiri. Photo by Sabrina Santiago.

An Artist Puts Kabul in a New Light (With Lipstick and Manicure)

Hangama Amiri’s Kaleidoscopic Textile Art Summons the Strength of Women in Afghanistan

Hangama Amiri Will Not Let Freedom for Afghanistan Women Be Forgotten

Eight Candian Artists to Check Out This Fall

Home Isn't One Place – A textile tribute to the Afghan diaspora

Dive into Kansas City's art scene this winter with 7 dynamic and diverse exhibits

30th Anniversary Luminaries

Innovating Sponsors

Additional financial assistance is provided by generous donors and members, especially:

Generous support for Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home is provided by

Exhibitions are supported by members and other donors.

Hangama Amiri (Afghan-Canadian, born 1989), Departure, 2022, muslin, cotton, polyester, clear vinyl, iridescent paper, faux leather, chiffon, and found fabric, 68 ½ x 85 inches. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Hangama Amiri. Photo: Jason Mandella.

Pattern is a common thread that connects these works from Kemper Museum’s Permanent Collection. Whether as imbedded designs in Polly Apfelbaum’s Squiggles (2018) and Thomasin Grim’s Deck (1990) or as a display configuration in Gio Swaby’s multi-panel Together We Bloom 2 (2023), these works draw on elements of pattern to convey a range of ideas and perspectives.

In Deck (1990) Grim creates what she calls a “symbolic narrative,” exploring the notion of fate versus will using black and white woven thread representations of tarot card drawings. This larger grid is structurally akin to Swaby’s silhouette portraits of women from her own close social circle, each one using varying patterns. While many of Swaby’s figures are known to her, Bisa Butler’s A Man’s Worth (2019) depicts with multiple fabric patterns a debonair Bill Hurley, a chauffeur for the white mayor of Charlottesville whose testimony in 1904 helped convict his former employer of murder. Paying homage to painter Alma Thomas, Butler uses small repeated light teal tick marks as the background for Hurley’s image. Apfelbaum also pays homage to a historical figure: Gilbert Baker, who originated the pride flag in 1978. In this large woven rainbow floor work, she incorporates the original flag’s hot pink color into her eight-stripe squiggled design, a color that was removed due to lack of fabric.

This exhibition directly connects to other fiber-based works on view throughout the Museum, in dialogue with Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home in the Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery and Sarah Zapata’s So the roots be known, the eighth annual commissioned Atrium Project. Thread: Making Patterns is curated by Erin Dziedzic, former director of curatorial affairs at Kemper Museum.

Generous contributions of all sizes help keep the Museum FREE for all visitors.

At Kemper Museum there is no charge for admission, parking, special exhibitions, or programs. Your donation underwrites these expenses and inspires many thousands with contemporary art each year.

Thread: Making Patterns

Bisa Butler (American, born 1975), A Man's Worth, 2019, quilted and appliqued cotton, wool, and chiffon, 89 x 50 inches. Promised gift of Bill and Christy Gautreaux, PG.2019.09.01. Art and photo © Bisa Butler, courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery.

New Acquisitions: In Celebration of Thirty Years of Kemper Museum

In 2024, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. As the first collecting contemporary art museum in the state of Missouri, Kemper Museum is grateful to those who have helped grow and enhance the Permanent Collection through significant acquisitions. The exhibition New Acquisitions highlights a selection of acquisitions to the Museum since 2022, celebrating the artists who created them, recognizing their generous donors, and acknowledging Kemper Museum’s continued focus on collecting works by women and artists of color.

Ahead of Kemper Museum’s thirtieth anniversary, staff continues to deepen holdings by individual artists such as Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012) and Hung Liu (Chinese American, 1948–2021). Additionally, several new acquisitions are by artists who have had major exhibitions at Kemper Museum such as Aliza Nisenbaum (born 1977, Mexico City, Mexico), who created new works as part of the 2021 commissioned Atrium Project, and Natalie Frank (American, born 1980), whose major solo exhibition Unbound was presented in 2022. Kemper Museum also supports acquisitions by emerging contemporary artists including Reginald Sylvester II (American, born 1987) whose solo exhibition Green Gate at Kemper Museum in 2023 debuted new work. 

Since its inception, Kemper Museum has maintained its commitment to collecting and exhibiting work by underrepresented artists. The museum continues to fill gaps and broaden its Permanent Collection to include more works by women artists and artists of color. For three decades, generous donors have helped keep Kemper Museum on the leading edge of contemporary art in the region and beyond.

New Acquisitions is curated by Erin Dziedzic, former director of curatorial affairs of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Featured Works

Frederick James Brown, Untitled, 1974, oil and acrylic on canvas, 36 x 60 inches. Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, To Arnold Thall, who recognized Fred Brown's talent early on, and was gifted this work of art, 2023.5. © Frederick J. Brown Trust. Photo: E.G. Schempf, 2023.

Free contemporary art museum in Kansas City, Missouri

Kemper Museum is a leading presenter of contemporary art and ideas in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Welcome to Kemper Museum

Join Lawrence, Kansas-based artist Mona Cliff (Hanook-gah-neeh/ Spottedcloud) to learn about her practice.

Artist Talk: Mona Cliff

Sing songs, read books, explore art, and make your own art with a Kemper Museum educator and Kansas City librarian.

Totally Tots

Save your spot for our three-day art camp

Summer Camp Kemper: LOUD Aesthetic

Join us for an evening of art-making inspired by works on view in the galleries.

Studio Night: Print & Pattern

Join us for an evening of creativity and community at the museum.

August Open Drawing

Join us for a gallery talk on the legacy of influential artist Frank Stella

Gallery Talk: Jessica May and JoAnne Northrup on Frank Stella

Summer Camp Kemper: INSIDE/OUT

Join us for a preview performance featuring excerpts of Tristian Griffin Dance Company's new work.

Excerpts from The Unexpected: Within the Red Lines

Visitors with sensory sensitivities are invited to enjoy exhibitions while the museum is closed in a quiet and low-stimulating environment with a hands-on activity.

Low Sensory Session

Dálida and Michael (Serennata del Tres Cubano)

Paintings

Carry III

Sculptures

Carbon, silver and gold

Works on Paper

Helen Frankenthaler and Alexander Liberman in her East 83rd Street studio, New York - 1967, with GUIDING RED

Photographs

Deck

Textile Installations

In Praise of Prairie Dogs

Prints

The Wedding

Film & Video

Untitled Escape Collage

Mixed Media

Keep admission, parking, special exhibitions, and programming free for everyone.

Home

Click here for information on how to get to the museum and where to find our free parking lots.

Public programs are always FREE for everyone, thanks to support from members and other donors. 

Led by a museum educator, this three-day art camp features fun and creative activities inspired by artwork. Campers meet at Kemper Museum each day from 10 a.m.–12 p.m., Wednesday through Friday. 

All art materials will be provided at no cost. 

Join artist collective, Viva La Tinta at Studio Night for a lively printmaking workshop inspired by techniques in the exhibition, Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home. Learn firsthand about printmaking processes through live demonstrations and hands-on activities, take a special print home with you at the conclusion.

Materials provided. Session takes place at Kemper Museum. All levels of experience are welcome. Cash bar.

Capacity is limited! If your plans change and you can no longer make it, we appreciate you canceling your reservation to give someone else the chance to attend.

Cash Bar Opens 5:30 p.m.  |  Artist talk and Q&A 6–7:30 p.m.

Join Lawrence, Kansas-based artist Mona Cliff (Hanook-gah-neeh/ Spottedcloud) to learn about her practice and celebrate her work in New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 exhibition, on view this year at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., selected from a 2022 exhibition at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Please note this program has been rescheduled to Wednesday, July 31

Image: Mona Cliff at the 2022 exhibition opening. Photo by Kenny Johnson.

Multidisciplinary artist Mona Cliff (Hanook-gah-neeh/ Spottedcloud) is an enrolled member of the Gros Ventre tribe (A'aninin/Nakota Nations) of Ft. Belknap, MT. In her work, she explores the subject of contemporary Indigenous identity and culture through her use of traditional Native crafting methods including beadwork and sewing applique. 

Cliff has public artwork on view at the Kansas City Museum, the Kansas City Airport, and the Haskell Indian Nations University; and a forthcoming commission will be on view at the Autry Museum of American Art beginning in September 2024. Mona earned a B.F.A in Printmaking from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. She currently resides in Lawrence, Kansas.

In 2022, Cliff's work was featured in Kemper Museum's presentation of Women to Watch: A New World, a national series of juried exhibitions featuring local artists in different regions. Her work was selected from that exhibition for the culminating national exhibition which is on view at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. 

Head to Kemper Museum the first Thursday of each month for an evening of community and creativity! 

Pick up a stool, drawing board, and provided drawing materials, or bring your own sketchbook and find a spot for open drawing at the museum.

Our community partner Classical KC will be onsite to provide music.

All levels of experience are welcome. Cash bar. (Members receive two free drinks.)

Attendees are allowed to bring their own sketchbooks, paper, and pencil. Otherwise, please use the materials provided by the museum.

Please use only graphite pencils, colored pencils, and crayons in all areas of the museum.

Markers, ink pens, charcoal, paint, watercolor, etc. are NOT allowed (nothing that is liquid-based or highly friable) in any areas of the museum.

Larger drawing boards can be used in the Atrium, but please use standard or smaller size clipboards if you enter one of the galleries.

Folding stools can be taken into the galleries. No easels, tables or drawing horses in the galleries.

Set up a minimum of 6 feet from artwork in the entire museum, and please do not blow or swipe graphite dust or eraser debris toward artworks.

Please dispose of any pencil shavings or any other debris in trash cans provided.

Public Programs are free, thanks to Kemper Museum members and other donors. 