The Fetishistic Fiction of Museums' “Tibetan” Shrines

Institutions peddle a Western aesthetic of “traditional” Tibetan shrines without scholarly backing, negating their limitless lived variety.

The Fetishistic Fiction of Museums' “Tibetan” Shrines
The "Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room" at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, assembled by Alice S. Kandell (all photos Melissa R. Kerin/Hyperallergic)