Dallas loves a story told in an unexpected way, and the Crow Museum of Asian Art is offering exactly that this season. The Hedge of Halomancy, now on view at the museum’s UT Dallas campus through February 7, 2027, is an immersive multimedia installation by the artist duo Hylozoic/Desires — Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser — that turns something as everyday as salt into poetry, film and music.
The 23-minute, three-channel video installation, accompanied by sculptural elements inspired by salt, reimagines the forgotten story of the Great Hedge of India, a living barrier that once stretched some 1,500 miles. At the heart of the work is Mayalee, a fictional halomancer — a reader of salt — whose divinations carry messages of imagination and resilience across the line. Archival material, moving image and verse blend into a dreamlike experience that invites visitors to slow down, look closely and let the story unfold around them.
It is a wonderful excuse to discover the Crow Museum’s campus home at the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum in Richardson, just north of Dallas. The Crow Museum is always free, open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and this exhibition runs alongside a rich fall season of Asian art. Happy City News recommends making an afternoon of it: art, a garden-like story, and a little wonder, all close to home.
Photo: Kevin Todora, courtesy of UT Dallas / Crow Museum of Asian Art
