This exhibit is on hiatus due to some unforeseen renovations. The display will be back in mid-April.
Exhibition dates: March 6 - May 2, 2025
Exhibition location: Fourth floor north, Douglas College, 700 Royal Ave., New Westminster
A new exhibit opening next week at the Amelia Douglas Gallery puts a human face to the housing crisis through art created by the very people the crisis affects most.
A Place Called Home features collage art, photographs, poetry broadsides and neon art by Amal Ishaque: a multidisciplinary artist, Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and award-winning arts educator; as well as by members of the Marpole Mutual Aid Network and peer leaders from the Community Action Network in New Westminster.
All of the artists have first-hand experience of housing insecurity.
“The lives and stories behind the housing crisis are often obscured by sensationalist headlines and faceless statistics,” said Ishaque. “The art in this exhibit weaves together a multitude of experiences. It offers an invitation to bear witness to these stories and reflect on how we might build a future where housing justice is not just an aspiration, it’s a fact.”
A Place Called Home was born out of Changing the Conversation – for which Ishaque is also the Artist in Residence – a project that examines how public spaces and public art can facilitate a healthier discourse about housing in the community.
“The core goal of this project is to explore how to build a greater sense of solidarity in communities around solutions to the housing crisis that prioritize the perspectives of lived experts and that develop inclusive narratives that speak to both the minds and hearts of community members,” said Dr. Elliot Rossiter, Douglas College Philosophy instructor and director of Changing the Conversation.
A Place Called Home is supported by Arts New West, the City of New Westminster and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The public is invited to attend the opening reception of A Place Called Home March 6 at 4:30pm at the New Westminster Campus’s Amelia Douglas Gallery. Admission is free.
Contact
Aline Bouwman
Communications Officer
bouwmana@douglascollege.ca