Sneha Shrestha in conversation with Elena Pakhoutova

Upon moving to Boston from Kathmandu, Sneha Shrestha became immersed in the city’s dynamic graffiti scene. She adopted the moniker IMAGINE, the English translation of her mother’s name, and started experimenting with Devanagari script to create a unique visual language. Shrestha translated this vernacular from exterior walls onto studio-sized canvases and paper, resulting in the body of work on view in .

On Saturday, May 31 at 2 pm, Shrestha will be joined by Senior Curator at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Elena Pakhoutova, for an in depth conversation about her evolving practice and the Aicon exhibition.

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is senior curator, Himalayan art, at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art. Pakhoutova holds a PhD in Asian art history and criticism from the University of Virginia and has taught at the University of Virginia and the New School, New York. Her background in Tibetan Buddhist studies informs her interdisciplinary interests, including Buddhist art and ritual, art production and patronage, material culture, narrative in Tibetan visual culture, and contemporary Himalayan art.

became the first contemporary Nepali artist collected by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, when they acquired her painting Home416 (2020) in 2023. Her monumental sculpture, Calling the Earth to Witness, was commissioned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, recently awarded Shrestha the prestigious James and Audrey Foster Prize. Her solo exhibit at the museum will run from August 25, 2025 through January 19, 2026. Shrestha’s numerous public art projects include For Cambridge, With Love from Nepal (2018, Cambridge, MA), Protect What You Love (2020, East Boston, MA), Food for the Heart (2022, Long Beach, CA), Still Smiling (2022, Cincinnati, OH), and the forthcoming 2025 public sculpture About a Living Culture in partnership with the Rubin Museum of Art and New York City’s Department of Transportation. Shrestha holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University, where she is the Arts Program Manager for the Mittal South Asia Institute.

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