Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.

Back when Masum Momaya was a curator at the Smithsonian, she would occasionally leave her office and take the short walk over to the National Museum of Asian Art for a quick break. Strolling the quiet galleries in awe, Momaya was particularly drawn to an exhibition of pottery from Afghanistan. Created by Afghan women, the pottery was delicately painted and shaped into bowls and plates, painstakingly preserved during the United States’ decades-long occupation of the country. “It was invoking centuries-old traditions of art, craftsmanship, and design that had been preserved and passed down across generations,” she told me. “It showed beauty, resilience, and complex

See Full Page