In the Canadian multicultural mosaic, Jayshree Khimasia sees ROM as a vital institution. The Museum has brought her closer to her own South Asian identity and nourished her lifelong passion for textiles and global fashion. And that’s why she has chosen to entrust part of her legacy to the Museum’s collections.
Jayshree came to Canada more than 40 years ago, and her story is quintessentially Canadian. She was born and raised in Nairobi to Indian parents, whose culture she retains. She attended school for fashion and design in the United Kingdom, where her love of textiles began to flourish. Her connection to her Indian heritage deepened on her first visit to India in her early twenties and spurred her artistic journey collecting and transforming saris from around the world.
“As part of an art project, I collected old saris from all over Asia and Africa and trained women to refashion them into completely new garments,” says Jayshree. “But some were just too beautiful, too special to cut up, so I saved them.”
She eventually settled in Toronto with her young family, bringing her ever-growing sari collection with her.
In the late 1990s, businessman and philanthropist Christopher Ondaatje challenged Toronto’s South Asian community to raise funds to build a permanent South Asian gallery, promising to match their contribution. Until then, Jayshree’s relationship with ROM had been casual – largely limited to chaperoning her son’s school trips and visiting sporadically. But she and her community rose to the occasion and today they share their cultural legacy with the public through the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery.
In the years since, Jayshree’s affiliation with ROM has continued to grow – as an artist, a visitor, and a patron. “Getting involved with the Museum was an opportunity for me to connect and learn more about my own heritage and culture,” she says.
It was the reciprocity of this relationship that inspired Jayshree to donate a portion of her cherished sari collection now, while also leaving select pieces in her will as a gift-in-kind to the Museum’s collection of textiles. “Many of the saris are one-of-a-kind,” she says. "I wanted to give something very precious to the Museum that would inspire greater appreciation of Indian artistry as they have done for me.”
By providing future opportunities for displaying, programming and curatorial research, Jayshree’s saris will help ROM share contemporary fashion and design stories of India and the Diaspora, while ensuring that her legacy lives on in future generations of ROM visitors who will benefit from her generosity.
Gift-in-kind donations are a meaningful and tangible way to leave a legacy and enhance the reach of ROM’s collection. To learn how you can support the Museum with a gift, please contact Janice Correa at janicec@rom.on.ca.