> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Remembering Bou Meng, Mary Heilmann, and Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/remembering-bou-meng-mary-heilmann-and-kumantjayi-walala-tjapaltjarri/ - Published: 2026-08-19T18:44:06.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-25T14:10:17.000Z - Description: This week, we honor a figurehead of genocide remembrance, a pioneering abstract artist, and an Aboriginal Australian painter. - Author: Lisa Yin Zhang - Tags: In Memoriam, Community, Obituary [*In Memoriam*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/in-memoriam/) *is published every Wednesday afternoon and honors those we recently lost in the art world.* --- **Bou Meng** (1941–2026) *Cambodian painter who survived the Khmer Rouge* His ability to [paint propaganda portraits](https://apnews.com/article/cambodia-khmer-rouge-bou-meng-tuol-sleng-s21-4249e0990d282b636e0f3eedcc600ad2?ref=hyperallergic.com) of then-Cambodian dictator Pol Pot and other leaders, including China's Chairman Mao Zedong and North Korea's President Kim Il Sung, led to his being one of only seven people known to have lived through the Khmer Rouge torture center in Cambodia. He was one of the most recognizable figures of Cambodian genocide remembrance, notably testifying before the national courts against a prison chief in 2009\. Later, he began painting murals of holy scenes in meditation centers and Buddhist temples. Bou Meng "actively contributed to the process of seeking justice for the victims," the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum [said](https://cambodianess.com/article/s-21-survivor-bou-meng-dies-at-85-as-living-witnesses-to-khmer-rouge-era-dwindle?ref=hyperallergic.com) in a statement, adding that his death represented "the loss of an important historical witness to the crimes committed by the Pol Pot genocide against the Cambodian people." --- **Mary Heilmann** (1940–2026) *Pioneering abstract artist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-17.png) Mary Heilmann at the opening of **303 Gallery: 35 Years* on July 18, 2019, in New York City (photo Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) An abstract painter who rubbed elbows with artists like Richard Serra and Robert Smithson, she enjoyed a late-career renaissance in her 60s, when she began making the boxy plywood chairs for which she is best known. She received a solo show and retrospective at the New Museum, and her work has been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitechapel Gallery in London, and more. [*Read the obituary*](https://hyperallergic.com/mary-heilmann-painter-of-irreverent-abstractions-dies-at-86/) --- **Daria Alyoshkina** (1982–2026) *Ukrainian graphic artist, paper-cutter, and sculptor* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-6.jpg) Daria Alyoshkina (photo @daria.alyoshkina via [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrd6LIDK6P/?hl=en&ref=hyperallergic.com), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) Her [sculptures](https://www.stvolodymyr.org/news/in-memory-of-daria-alyoshkina?ref=hyperallergic.com) have been shown across Ukraine and in Poland, and her *vytynanky* paper cuttings — a monochrome Ukrainian form — have been shown in the United States, Poland, France, Germany, and beyond. --- **Jack Crabtree** (1938–2026) *British figurative painter* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-18.png) Jack Crabtree (photo Walter Waygood via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/walter.waygood.12/posts/jack-crabtreea-highly-respected-person-an-outstanding-lecturer-and-a-true-artist/2317679215723823/), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) His [social realist paintings](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/aug/13/jack-crabtree-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com) of steelworkers, miners, and industrial communities drew upon his own working-class childhood. He documented coalfields in south Wales and became the first recipient of the Ruhr Arts Fellowship in 1977, which he spent documenting the German coal and steel industry. --- **John D. Edwards** (1952–2026) *British painter and sculptor* He exhibited his [luminous, semi-abstract paintings](https://johndedwards.com/about/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at galleries in London, New York, Chicago, and Tokyo until a cancer diagnosis, which led him to write and illustrate *How Cancer Saved My Life* (2007). In his work in the art world, notably at the Waddington Gallery, he crossed paths with artists like Jim Dine, Kenneth Noland, Dan Flavin, and more. --- **Robin Hill** (1932–2026) *Wildlife artist and fixture of Washington, DC art* His [hyper-detailed illustrations](https://georgetowner.com/articles/2026/08/17/robin-hill-artist-birdman-neighbor-dies-at-94/?ref=hyperallergic.com) of the natural world — in particular, birds — recalled those of artist and naturalist John James Audubon. With his wife, Marcia Carter, he turned workspaces around Washington, DC into artistic salons. --- **Thora Jacobson** (1949–2026) *Champion of art in Philadelphia* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-19.png) Thora Jacobson (left) (photo Mural Arts Philadelphia via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1597711892401170&set=pcb.1597712125734480), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) She was CEO of the Fleisher Art Memorial, executive director of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, director of design review for Mural Arts Philadelphia, chair of the Philadelphia Art Commission, among [many more roles in the arts in the city](https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/thora-jacobson-obituary-philadelphia-ridley-art-fleisher-20260813.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). She was also a curator, served on juries for exhibitions, and wrote essays for catalogs and art books, winning the Visionary Woman Award from Moore College of Art and one for lifetime achievement from Tri-State Artists Equity. "Thora was a force of nature," Monica Zimmerman, executive director of the Flesicher Art Memorial, told *Hyperallergic*. "She modeled what real access and equity in the arts could look like decades before it was a bigger conversation." --- **Kumantjayi (Walala) Tjapaltjarri** (d. 2026) *Australian Aboriginal painter* A member of the Papunya Tula, an artist cooperative of Aboriginal people from Australia's Western Desert, his [paintings](https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/pintupi-nine-artist-s-death-breaks-link-to-pre-white-australia-20260810-p60mxd?ref=hyperallergic.com) explore subjects such as the Tingari Cycle, an Aboriginal epic. He was one of the Pintupi Nine, a group of Indigenous nomads from Western Australia's Gibson Desert known for making contact with settler society in 1984, and his work is in notable collections internationally, including those of Steve Martin and Beyoncé. --- **Patrick Vilaire** (1941–2026) *Haitian sculptor, painter, and ceramicist* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/08/image-20.png) Patrick Vilaire (photo Tito.ht via [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1546933077473925&set=pcb.1546933117473921), screenshot Lisa Yin Zhang/**Hyperallergic*) He [explored](https://repeatingislands.com/2026/08/16/haitian-visual-artist-patrick-vilaire-passes-away/?ref=hyperallergic.com) power, memory, oppression, death, Vodou, and Haitian history in his sculptures, paintings, and more. He was also a writer and researcher, and was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1991 and received the Édouard Glissant Prize in 2010\.