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Kemper Museum is a free art museum in Kansas City, Missouri that presents global contemporary art.

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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges it resides on the ancestral territory of the Osage, Kaw, and Otoe-Missouria, among other tribal nations forcibly moved to the region such as the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) nations. We recognize and support the continued vibrancy of Native communities and cultures today who continue to thrive, as well as the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations. We are compelled to serve and advocate for these communities in accordance with our public mission.

Kemper Museum acknowledges and respects the diversity of Native people connected to this land today. Many recognize the land and all beings who live within it as relatives. We acknowledge the earth we inhabit, the waters of the Blue River, the Kansas River, the Missouri River, and the plants, animals, and people supported by them. 

We acknowledge our responsibility to be good caretakers of the land we occupy. 

Click here to learn more about our land acknowledgment process.

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Flaw(less) explores themes of identity, stereotypes, and perception across cultures in works from the Kemper Museum Permanent Collection. These works, dating from 1920 to 2013, present an opportunity to consider our shared experiences in the ways we present ourselves, how we are perceived, and what we may consider to be flaws in our appearance as we are subjected to the gaze of others through generations.  

These issues are front and center in Nikki S. Lee’s poignant photograph, The Hispanic Project (20) (1998), part of a larger series in which South Korean artist Lee adopts the aesthetic of a range of subcultures and communities. Lee’s work highlights the prevalence of stereotypes and the influence of environment on self-expression. 

The works in this exhibition reflect the connections between artists and their subjects—familiar, voyeuristic, open, closed, exploitive—and begin to unpack the dynamics of perception, difference, and representation. Flaw(less) seeks to open conversations about value, empathy, and humanity by challenging standards of beauty and representing it in a range of ways, to understand how our once-perceived flaws can transform into strengths. What do you see in you as flaw(less)?

The Teen Arts Council is a youth development program providing teens in the Kansas City metro area the opportunity to participate as leaders in the local arts community through innovative workshops, planning teen-focused events, and receiving mentorship from Kemper Museum staff. 

2018 Teen Arts Council: Anya Asjad, Audrey Diggs, River Hennick, Van Hmung, Joardy Looney III, Katie Moore, Anthony Moses III, Kelly Murphy, Leslie Ponce-Diaz, Alecia Sharpe, and Auryona Webb; Instructor Jessica Thompson-Lee.

Kemper Teen Arts Council is made possible through the generosity of Stanley Bushman and Ann Canfield, Charles Helzberg and Sandra Baer.

Installation view
 Flaw(less), August 17, 2018–February 17, 2019
 Meeting Room Gallery, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Jaimie Warren (American, born 1980)
 Untitled (Self Portrait, Yamamba Girls, Tokyo), 2007
 chromogenic color print on paper, edition of 5, 30 x 44½ inches

Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
 Gift of the artist and Higher Pictures, 2009.08.01.

Neeta Madahar (British, born 1966)
 Suky with Cherry, 2010, from the series Flora
 chromogenic color print on Kodak Ultra Endura paper, edition 3 of 9,
 40 x 30 inches

Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri,
 Gift of Neeta Madahar and Paul Hemingway, 2014.12.01.

Exhibition Preview

Flaw(less): Kemper Teen Arts Council Curated Exhibition

Nikki S. Lee (South Korean, born 1970)
 The Hispanic Project (20), 1998
 chromogenic color print, 40 x 30 inches, edition 3 of 3

Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
 Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection, Museum purchase, Enid and Crosby Kemper and William T. Kemper Acquisition Fund, 2006.14.01.