A ROUND LAVENDER PLINTH sits in the middle of the gallery, where visitors can weave using colourful strips of gota ribbon. Translucent fabrics, vibrantly textured paintings, and intimate videos fill the room, accompanied by sounds of crushed bricks and gentle waves of the Salish Sea.
At Surrey Art Gallery, associate curator of engagement Jas Lally reflects on the ways in which artists use textiles and language to record, transform, and share personal and collective stories. Marking the end of the gallery’s 50th anniversary, In the Folds of Memory showcases the distinct material practices of artists Farheen Haq and Russna Kaur, running until December 6.
Lally’s inspiration for the exhibition title stems from a quote she encountered in Jessica Hemmings’s anthology The Textile Reader: “Textiles remember. This is not something that we necessarily ask of them, nor is it something we can divert them from doing. They do it regardless… moments of joy and tragedy are recorded on the surface and embedded into the structure of the cloth, without permission and often without intention.”
“The idea for me is how cloth and textiles can be understood as a witness to lived experiences rather than just an object of decorative material,” Lally explains over the phone. “I really want viewers to take in how the show brings together these works that speak to memory as something carried through material, transformed through the making, and reshaped by the lived experiences of the individual artists.”
Haq’s work is rooted in her desire to reconnect with her inner self and her South Asian heritage. She likens her process of creation to “alchemy”, revisiting past moments, words, or impressions to form something new. The story of her mother keeping her eyes closed throughout her own wedding translates to the 2022 video piece Aankhein Band Kar Ke Dekho (Close Your Eyes and See), where Haq reenacts her mother’s wedding rituals. As the red dupatta sways with the wind, folding and unfolding alongside the steady currents of the Salish Sea, the interdisciplinary artist channels her mother’s strength while tracing her ties to Lək̓ʷəŋən lands and waters. Her 2024 tapestry project Ghoonghat Ke Pat Khol Re (Lift up the Veil) borrows from 15th-century poet Kabir, whose poem of the same title calls for the symbolic removal of ignorance and illusion to discover the divine within. Community members contributed to the embroidery of Kabir’s poem on two panels of delicate red organza framed with gold kiran fringe, in Punjabi and phonetic Urdu translation.
The exploration of language continues in Haq’s 2017 brick and video installation Revelation #2 (part of the gallery’s permanent collection), reflecting her shifting relationship with religion as a Muslim in Canada. In the video, her hands cover and uncover the Arabic word Iqra, the first word of the Quran that was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed, using crushed bricks that allude to the destruction of sacred Islamic sites. In addition to English, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, and Punjabi are incorporated into her works.
“Language is an important part of my practice as well, and in the last few years I’ve also been leaning into my mother tongue, Urdu,” Haq tells Stir over Zoom. “There’s so many of these core memories and worldviews that I’m able to re-enter and access through exploring language.”