In addition to researching MOA's extensive Asian collections, Jasleen will work with other MOA curators to devise and deliver a strategy for displaying the South Asian, Himalayan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Central Asian, Middle Eastern and South East Asian collections in the Museum's new Multiversity Galleries (replacing existing Visible Storage), opening in the Fall of 2009. A key component of the Museum's $58 million expansion and renewal project, A Partnership of Peoples, the Multiversity Galleries will showcase approximately 15,000 objects from around the world, enhanced by access to electronic information and related rich media (see www.moa.ubc.ca/renewal).

Jasleen joins us from London, England, where she worked on the Asian Ethnographic and First Nations collections at the British Museum. Previously, as a Curator of South Asian Art at the British Library, she curated the exhibition Faith & Brotherhood: Treasures of the Sikhs, and led a series of gallery talks and educational workshops for the public. An art historian, Jasleen has lectured extensively across the breadth of Asian collections – from Tibetan Buddhist sculpture, Korean ritual art, Japanese decorative arts and Chinese Buddhist sculpture, to South Asian textiles, sculpture, armour, paintings, manuscripts, historical photographs and decorative arts, Asian New Media collections and even First Nations art – at the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Library, the SOAS Brunei Gallery, National Museums Liverpool, and the Docklands Museum, among others. Recently, she delivered a seminar at the London Design Museum on the role of the 21st century curator.

Jasleen has published numerous articles and reviews of exhibitions such as "In Pursuit of the Divine: Arts of the Sikh Courts of the Punjab" (Apollo, November 2007) and "Bon: the Magic Word," on the indigenous religion of Tibet presented at the Rubin Museum, New York (Burlington, February 2008). Her article on Kashmir shawls will be published in the May/June issue of HALI, and another focusing on MOA's Cantonese Opera Costume collection will be published in the Sept/Oct issue of HALI in the Curator’s Masterpieces section.

For the past two years, Jasleen has served as a member of the Museums Association's Editorial advisory panel for the Museums Journal and Museums Practice, with a specific interest in the development of Asian artistic heritage and the value of cultural diversity, as well as virtual initiatives to create collections of the future.

Jasleen obtained her BA in Asian Art History with Asian Music from the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, and her MA in East Asian Art on scholarship from Sotheby's Institute of Art, University of Manchester. A keen musical enthusiast, she sung as a first soprano with the British Museum British Library Singers, and played the puk drum as part of the first Korean P'ungmul drumming group at SOAS.

Says Museum Director Dr. Anthony Shelton: “I am delighted to welcome Jasleen to the Museum of Anthropology where, over the next two years, she will play a key role in curating the Asian sections of the new Multiversity Galleries. I am confident that her enthusiasm, interest in working with communities, and overall knowledge of Asia will ensure this expanded space committed to Asian art and culture within MOA will be a resounding success, and contribute significantly to opening the Museum to new audiences.”
Jasleen can be reached at 604.822.9624 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Press release date: 6 May 2008