Oct, 05, 2026
Major Gifts
Phoenix Art Museum establishes major initiative dedicated to advancing the exhibition and scholarship of historical and contemporary Sri Lankan art
Dr. Sukumar Nagendran makes a transformational gift that establishes a dedicated Sri Lankan art gallery, renames Museum’s Art of Asia Wing, and supports acquisitions, research, and community engagement opportunities
PHOENIX, AZ (October 5, 2026) – Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) announces a historic gift from Arizona-based philanthropist, physician, and biotechnology executive Sukumar Nagendran that establishes PhxArt as a leading U.S. art museum with a dedicated Sri Lankan art initiative. The gift creates the Nagendran Gallery for the Art of Sri Lanka and South Asia, dedicates the Dr. Sukumar Nagendran Wing for the Art of Asia, and provides ongoing support for acquisitions and exhibitions, scholarly research, and public programs designed to elevate South Asian artistic voices. The significant $5M gift also expands the institution’s dedicated Art of Asia galleries to more than 9,500 sq. ft. and deepens its commitment to the presentation and preservation of Asian art, one of the Museum’s foundational collections. Opening November 13, 2026, the inaugural exhibition in the Nagendran Gallery highlights works by contemporary Sri Lankan artist Pala Pothupitiye, alongside a presentation of historical Sri Lankan art from the collection of the Fernando family.
“Since the founding of Phoenix Art Museum in 1959, Asian art has been a pillar of the institution, among its earliest acquisitions,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director and CEO. “Over the decades, the Museum’s Asian arts holdings have grown to include a significant and unique collection of historical Sri Lankan works that distinguishes the Museum nationally and provides a critical foundation for scholarship, interpretation, and public engagement. Dr. Nagendran’s visionary generosity enables us to build on this strength and pair our exceptional historical holdings with robust programming focused on contemporary Sri Lankan and South Asian artists, which feels especially timely as Phoenix continues to grow as a global city with considerable Asian and Asian American populations. We are deeply grateful to Dr. Nagendran for this historic gift that not only expands our Asian art galleries and collections program but also advances our mission to foster connection, belonging, and dialogue as a civic and cultural resource for our community.”
Nearly one fifth of the PhxArt Collection features works by artists who live, work, or originate from Asia, spanning more than 1,000 years of history. Among these holdings, the Museum’s collection of Sri Lankan art stands apart for its exceptional depth, historical breadth, and rare concentration of masterworks drawn from the widely regarded Fernando Family Collection. Developed through a decades-long partnership with Phoenix-based collectors and philanthropists, Drs. Coleene and Barry Fernando and the late Quintus Fernando, PhD, the collection includes Buddhist sculptures, paintings on cloth and on panels, illustrated palm leaf manuscripts, and a newly uncovered body of original black-and-white photographs by Quintus Fernando. The manuscripts are especially notable for their craftsmanship, preservation, and art historical importance, representing a rarely exhibited aspect of Sri Lanka’s literary and devotional traditions, while the Buddhist works reflect centuries of artistic innovation and spiritual practice. Equally remarkable are Fernando’s photographs, discovered only within the past decade and believed to have been taken shortly before the family emigrated from Sri Lanka. Through transformative loans, gifts, and scholarly collaboration with the Fernando family, the Museum has emerged as a leading and internationally recognized steward of Sri Lankan art, with a significant collection of historical artworks highlighted in past exhibitions, including The Guardian of the Flame: Art of Sri Lanka (2003) and Legacy of Ceylon: Art and Photography of Sri Lanka (2021).
Nagendran’s transformational gift builds upon and dramatically expands the Fernando family’s legacy, positioning PhxArt as one of the world’s foremost institutions dedicated to the study, presentation, and advancement of both historical and contemporary Sri Lankan artistic practice. Through Nagendran’s gift, which provides vital endowment support, the Museum will pursue exhibitions, acquisitions, research, artist residencies, and international partnerships to increase visibility for contemporary Sri Lankan artists working within the region and throughout the global diaspora.
“Throughout my career, I have experienced the tremendous and transformational difference collaboration, curiosity, creativity, and intellectual rigor can make in the lives of people from all walks of life,” said Nagendran. “Through this gift, I have the opportunity to build a partnership that explores and celebrates historical and contemporary Sri Lankan art on a global scale. Together, we can share not only the extraordinary artistic traditions of Asia, but also the stories, histories, and lived experiences of the Sri Lankan people, with the Museum’s audiences and the world more broadly. It is my hope that this initiative will deepen cultural understanding, inspire future generations, and help preserve and elevate some of the most important artistic voices and works from my home region for decades—and centuries—to come.”
The Museum inaugurates the Nagendran Gallery in November 2026 with Pala Pothupitiye: Mapping a Sri Lankan Consciousness, curated by Tushara Bindu Gude, PhD, Curator at the Foundation for Spirituality and the Arts. Pothupitiye draws from diverse visual, cultural, and mythological sources to interrogate Sri Lankan history, and the exhibition highlights his most well-known body of work—cartographic paintings that use maps of the island as backdrops for his imaginative portrayals of imperial and national ambitions, colonial desires, religious and ethnic identities, and modern-day conflict. A second body of featured work explores the artistry and aesthetics of the ritual dance community into which Pothupitiye was born and how the legacies of colonialism have influenced Sri Lankan artistic practice. To provide a foundational understanding for the vision of Sri Lankan history that guides Pothupitiye’s artmaking, his work is placed in conversation with historical manuscripts and sculptures donated to the PhxArt Collection by the Fernando family, loans from the Fernando Family Collection, and photographs by Dr. Quintus Fernando that portray the island’s post-independence heritage.
In addition to presenting exhibitions such as Pala Pothupitiye: Mapping a Sri Lankan Consciousness, the broader initiative at PhxArt will include future international convenings, collaborations, and public programs that bring together artists, scholars, collectors, and cultural leaders from Sri Lanka and around the world, further positioning the institution as a global center for cross-cultural dialogue, research, and the presentation of South Asian art and culture.
For more information, contact the Museum’s Press Office at press@phxart.org.
About Sukumar Nagendran, MD
Dr. Sukumar Nagendran is a philanthropist, physician, and biotechnology executive with more than three decades of experience in clinical development, gene therapy, and translational medicine. He currently serves as President and Head of Research and Development at Taysha Gene Therapies, Inc., where he has also been a member of the Board of Directors since 2020. Previously, he served as Chief Medical Officer and President of Research and Development at Jaguar Gene Therapy, and as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at AveXis Inc. prior to the company’s acquisition by Novartis. Over the course of his career, Dr. Nagendran has held senior leadership positions at Pfizer Inc., Novartis, Daiichi Sankyo, Reata Pharmaceuticals, and Quest Diagnostics, and his work has contributed to the advancement and commercialization of innovative therapies, including gene and cell therapies now reaching patients globally. His philanthropic commitments include sponsoring the Fonseca-Nagendran Scholar Award at the American Diabetes Association to advance research in minority populations, as well as the Jerry Mendell Translational Science Scholarship at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. He also supports the construction of medical facilities, schools, essential infrastructure, and food and humanitarian initiatives in Sri Lanka. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Taysha Gene Therapies, SalioGen Therapeutics, COVE Therapeutics, Medocity, Inc, Solid Bio, and Amlogenyx. Nagendran has also been involved in many philanthropic efforts in Sri Lanka, including constructing medical facilities, schools, and drinking water and sanitation facilities, among others.
About the Art of Asia Collection at Phoenix Art Museum and The Dr. Sukumar Nagendran Wing for the Art of Asia
The Art of Asia Collection at Phoenix Art Museum is the institution’s most expansive and historically rich collecting area, home to more than 4,000 objects drawn from across Asia and spanning thousands of years. The collection includes art from India, Pakistan, Iran, Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and Java, and contains some of the Museum’s oldest objects. Among its strongest holdings is the Chinese collection, which traces artistic development from early archaeological materials, such as tomb sculpture, pottery, and bronze, through the evolution of ceramics and the emergence of porcelain, as well as jade carving from the Neolithic period through the 19th century and paintings from the 14th to the 20th centuries. Japanese art is represented through prints, screens, paintings, samurai armor, and contemporary ceramics, reflecting both historical traditions and living practices. Religious art forms a central component of the Wing, with significant Hindu and Buddhist works from across Asia, including gilded bronze sculpture, complete shrines, and an exceptional group of Sino-Tibetan Buddhist bronzes representing nearly every Esoteric Buddhist deity. Internationally significant holdings of Sri Lankan Buddhist art further distinguish the Museum’s collection.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, a monthly live-music series, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
###