10 and 10: Story of Stories sparks reflections on evolution for Surrey Art Gallery's 50th anniversary
Dana Claxton, Lyse Lemieux, and more artists are featured in the exhibition that pairs works from 1975–1985 with pieces from 2014–2024
Lyse Lemieux’s Mexico, 1984, mixed-media sculpture. Collection of Surrey Art Gallery.
Gailan Ngan’s Double Hearing, 2017, clay, slips, glazes, and metal stand. Collection of Surrey Art Gallery, purchased with support of the Surrey Art Gallery Association.
Surrey Art Gallery presents 10 and 10: Story of Stories to August 9, with Summer Opening: [e]merging Art Party on July 5 and an exhibition tour on July 24
WITH 1,896 ARTWORKS in the Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection, assistant curator Jas Lally faced the inevitable curatorial dilemma: how do you distill decades of artistic legacy into a single exhibition?
10 and 10: Story of Stories is her answer. Marking the gallery’s 50th anniversary, the show pairs works acquired from its first decade of collecting (1975–1985) with ones from the last decade (2014–2024). Each duo corresponds with one of four themes: landscape, architecture, portraiture, or movement. By displaying the pieces in this comparative framework, Lally aims to spark dialogue about the passage of time and the evolution of the community.
“I wanted to make this conversation between the works—what the two works from each decade are referencing, speaking to, and sharing,” she explains. “Are the conversations the same from the first 10 years to the last 10 years?”
The exhibition title Story of Stories borrows from former art director Liane Davison’s statement: “It would be impossible to accurately tell you the Surrey Art Gallery story because it is the story of stories.”
“This visualization helped me to create this tapestry of artworks and stories that come together, and the audiences who get to share these stories and then make their own as well,” Lally says. “I thought it was a very beautiful and poetic way of looking at the past, the present, and also how we want to engage in the future.”
Until August 9, visitors are invited to experience and engage with these diverse stories that reflect the gallery’s history. Featured artists include Abani Sen, Dana Claxton, Gwen Curry, Karin Bubaš, Jim Jardine, Lakshmi Gill, Lyse Lemieux, and Gailan Ngan. The pairings under each theme explore recurring questions of space, identity, and perception, highlighting stories that emerge within and between the works.
Dana Claxton’s Tatanka 1, 2019, C-print. Collection of Surrey Art Gallery.
Abani Sen’s Folk Art, 1944, gouache and tempera on paper. Collection of Surrey Art Gallery.
Landscape here does not mean natural scenery, and architecture is not defined by brick and mortar. Sen’s 1944 painting Folk Art (which depicts an elephant surrounded by peacocks and human figures, all done in the style of Indian folk art) and Claxton’s 2019 photograph Tatanka 1 (a brightly saturated depiction of a buffalo) illustrate connections between land, identity, and cultural meaning. Curry’s charcoal drawing Under the Ramp and Bubaš’s photographic print Exterior Study at Night focus on overlooked and ignored spaces that represent the architecture of daily life. Gill’s Portrait of Uncle on Scott Road, which fluidly combines painting and poetry, and Jardine’s photograph Mary Jane both raise questions as to how identity is conveyed and perceived.
Movement—perhaps the most abstract of the four themes—considers time, motion, and material, explored through a striking sculptural pairing. “This idea of movement is implied in both sculptures, and both are engaging with this idea of stillness and creating this feeling of unease,” Lally says.
Lemieux’s 1984 sculpture Mexico features a brightly coloured lineup of wooden figures adorned with beads and surrounded by pieces of glass. Lemieux invites the idea of motion as frozen in time and place through the figures’ positions and poses—arms raised, heads tilted, hips forward. Juxtaposing Mexico, Ngan’s 2017 piece Double Hearing balances two gumdrop-shaped ceramic sculptures on a delicate, curved yellow ladder reminiscent of a climbing arch on a playground. Each shape is perched on a thin rung on opposite sides of the ladder, one higher than the other, as if both could be ascending or descending. Their precarious positions evoke mixed feelings and endless questions.
In keeping with the gallery’s tradition of involving local artists in their projects, Lally invited five Surrey-based artists to conduct research, select their own pairing from the permanent collection, and provide written reflections which are interspersed throughout the space. Guided by their material practices and perspectives, Ying-Yueh Chuang, Kiranjot Kaur, Manjot Kaur, Chito Maravilla, and Helma Sawatzky introduce unique conversations with the works. Alongside the curated exhibition, there is a timeline with archival markers that outline the gallery’s past leading to the present.
For Lally, 10 and 10: Story of Stories is both a reflection and an invitation.
“What’s really wonderful is that visitors may see an artwork that they have already seen in a different iteration of an exhibition with a different theme and different conversation,” she notes. “And when they see it again in this framework…their memory and story of the work continues to change and grow—just like the permanent collection.” 
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