“One Life: Maya Lin” is the first biographical exhibition of the architect, sculptor and environmentalist. Lin, who catapulted to global prominence in 1982 for her design of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, has spent more than four decades making work that centers on history and human rights with a particular focus on how we experience and relate to landscape. Lin describes her practice as “a systematic ordering of the land that is tied to history, time and language.” The exhibition will trace Lin from her childhood to today, presenting a range of photographs, sculptures, personal ephemera, sketchbooks, architectural models and images of her completed works. Also on view will be an element of Lin’s project “What Is Missing?” which addresses the biodiversity crisis by inviting viewers to use a multimedia platform to share memories of natural elements that have vanished during their lifetimes. “One Life: Maya Lin” is curated by Dorothy Moss, curator of painting and sculpture, and will be on view Sept. 30, 2022, through April 16, 2023, in the Portrait Gallery’s “One Life” gallery, newly relocated to the museum’s second floor. This is the museum’s first “One Life” exhibition dedicated to an Asian American since the series was founded in 2006.

“One Life: Maya Lin” has been made possible by the Guenther and Siewchin Yong Sommer Endowment Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies. This project also received support from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Americans Initiative Pool.