Komal Shah, one of the world’s top collectors, has announced that she will rename her Shah Garg Foundation to the Making Their Mark Foundation as part of a new chapter for the nonprofit, which will include a three-day forum in Washington, D.C. next year.
Making Their Mark Foundation takes its name from “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection,” a traveling exhibition curated by Cecilia Alemani that focuses on women artists in the collection that Shah has built with her husband Gaurav Garg for over a decade. Katy Siegel, an art historian who served as coeditor on the exhibition’s accompanying catalog, originally suggested the name, and it stuck.
“It struck a chord with all of us as we wanted to portray women artists as active mark makers on the canvas and also on the canon of art history,” Shah told ARTnews in an email. “As the exhibition started traveling across the country, I noticed that the phrase ‘Making Their Mark” resonated deeply with audiences.”
The renaming, Shah said, is meant to more accurately reflect the foundation’s “expansive work,” which includes exhibitions, programming, and educational initiatives. She added, “The Making Their Mark Foundation now more inclusively reflects the multiple ways we celebrate the power of women artists and our efforts to bring attention to their impact on art throughout history.”
Since 2023, “Making Their Mark” has opened in New York; Berkeley, California; and St. Louis, Missouri. This coming February, it will open at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in D.C., before traveling to the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe in 2027. Shah said she has been motivated and energized by interacting with visitors at each iteration of the exhibition.
“Many know women in their own lives—their mother, sister, or aunt—who may not have had the same agency or opportunities because of gender inequality, and it brings them joy and inspiration to see women create boldly and confidently,” she said. “This sense of connection explains the enthusiastic reception that Making Their Mark continues to receive.”
The D.C. stop for the exhibition will also see the launch of the Making Their Mark Forum, which will run March 5–7, timed to Women’s History Month. The main day of programming, on March 6, will be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Alemani will serve as curatorial director; Loring Randolph, who organized the AWAW Artist Survey and Symposium 2025, as director; and Alexa Milroy as chief of staff.
The gathering will feature panels, keynotes, poetry readings, and performances, and it is divided into four themes: Visionary Voices, The System Reimagined, Studio Sessions, and Changemakers. Visionary Voices will feature art world leaders discussing their work, while Studio Sessions will highlight artists speaking on their practices and process. Changemakers will spotlight cultural workers who are “developing new models that expand visibility, support, and opportunity for women artists globally,” according to a release.
The System Reimagined will bring all of these people together to “present new ideas on structural change across the cultural field and propose innovative strategies for equity and sustainability in the arts,” per the release. These series of panels will focus on rethinking museum practices and mentorship pipelines, as well as “visibility and value” in primary and secondary markets for women artists.
Shah said she was inspired to create the forum after attending the “Loophole of Retreat,” a three-day symposium that accompanied Simone Leigh’s US Pavilion for the 2022 Venice Biennale and was organized by Rashida Bumbray.
“I was so deeply impacted by the discussions and performances that I began to think of other ways to bring together women across the art world,” Shah said. “Having had the good fortune to spend so much time around these artists, curators, and thinkers, I felt it would be amazing to have this community of women celebrate their hard work and accomplishments but also engage in pressing dialogues regarding gender disparity in the art world. With the forum’s collective impact, we aim to encourage meaningful action to address inequality.”
The line-up for the Making Their Mark Forum includes a who’s who of artists, including Andrea Bowers, Laura Ortman, Joan Semmel, Tschabalala Self, Joyce J. Scott, Sasha Stiles, and Uman. (The full list of speakers can be found on the Making Their Mark website.)
Also featured are leading curators and art historians like Bumbray; Rhea Combs, director of curatorial affairs of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; Christophe Cherix, director of the Museum of Modern Art; independent curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill; Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art; Sandra Jackson-Dumont, the former director of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art; Michelle Kuo, chief curator at large at MoMA; Kymberly Pinder, dean of the Yale School of Art; Lowery Stokes Sims, former director of the Studio Museum in Harlem; and Jasmine Wahi, founder of Project for Empty Space.
Shah said the planning for the Making Their Mark Forum began well before the start of the second Trump administration, which has attacked cultural institutions and DEI policies alike.
“This is a challenging moment for cultural institutions across the country, but it is very special to me that this exhibition will come to Washington, D.C. now,” Shah said. “Our original vision now feels more relevant and vital than ever. Making Their Mark is an exhibition that demonstrates the excellence of women artists. With the forum, we’ll expand on the exhibition’s ethos by not only recognizing the contributions of women artists but also pragmatically examining the ongoing issues facing women in the arts.”
