Downtown San José as an Imaginative Landscape

Pao Houa Her.

Downtown San José has lengthy been a hub of tradition, creativity and collaboration, and a brand new exhibition demonstrates simply how highly effective partnerships might be in shaping a vibrant group. 

The exhibition “Pao Houa Her: The Imaginative Landscape,” introduced by the San José Museum of Art (SJMA), extends far past the museum’s partitions due to a community of devoted companions — together with the SJSU King Library, San José Downtown Association, Mezcal Restaurant and Visit San José. Together, these organizations have remodeled downtown right into a dynamic satellite tv for pc gallery, the place artwork turns into a part of on a regular basis life.

Pao Houa Her’s apply engages with the legacies, potentials and aesthetics of panorama and portrait pictures traditions, analyzing the advanced intertwining of want, homeland and artifice. Rooted within the expertise of her Hmong group and formed by household experiences and lore handed down by her elders, Her’s work facilities girls because the data bearers of each previous and future. Her explores constructions of homeland that resonate throughout diasporas.

Visitors can view Pao Houa Her’s placing pictures on the fourth and fifth flooring of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, displayed on displays scattered alongside library and campus useful resource bulletins. The library’s function exemplifies the advantages of linking larger training with cultural establishments to strengthen civic life and improve the educational and cultural surroundings for SJSU college students, school and employees.

In addition, Her’s artwork can be considered exterior the conference heart, Mezcal Restaurant on San Fernando Street, and at varied downtown places. This partnership illustrates the worth of weaving artwork into group areas and throughout gathering locations the place individuals reside, work and join. 

Nick Szydlowski, digital scholarship librarian and lead accomplice coordinating the King Library Digital Humanities Center (DHC), was desirous to showcase how the digital shows might reimagine on a regular basis areas as venues for creativity and dialogue. 

Pao Houa Her’s pictures is on show at SJSU King Library. Photo: Frederick Liang, SJMA.

“By distributing exhibits across multiple physical and digital locations, art is no longer confined to a single venue or format — it becomes part of the city’s sense of place, innovative spirit and collective identity, which makes San José such a rich environment for digital humanities work,” stated Szydlowski. 

Through “The Imaginative Landscape” partnership, it’s clear that when organizations be a part of forces, they’ll flip metropolis streets right into a residing gallery — the place artwork is accessible, related, and deeply linked to the group it serves.

Follow @sjsulibrary and @sanjosemusuemofart on Instagram to learn the way this partnership fosters connection, curiosity, and inspiration and go to the varied places in downtown San José through the vacation break.

Mark your calendar on February 12, 2026 for a particular SJMA Creative Minds occasion that includes the artist Pao Houa Her within the King Library Digital Humanities Center.