A look at light, shadow and spaces in between

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Surrey Art Gallery
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Mere Phantoms: Shadows Without Borders
Until August 14
Mere Phantoms is a partnership of the artists Maya Ersan and Jaimie Robson, who use shadow play to explore the relationship between memory and architecture, people and place. For their 2018 work Shadows Without Borders, the duo travelled to refugee camps, squats and settlements in Athens and Istanbul. There, they led paper-cutting and shadow workshops with children and families. Some of the pieces created during this trip are included in the exhibition along with a 3.5 by 3.5-metre shadow projection tent and custom-made flashlights. During the exhibition, visitors are invited to engage with the artwork by adding their own cutouts to an ever-growing interactive installation and pick up a flashlight to animate the intricate paper tableaus. The gallery’s concurrent exhibits include ARTS 2022, an annual juried exhibition of local art organized with Arts Council of Surrey; Atheana Picha: Echoes, a window mural that celebrates Coast Salish mountain goat horn bracelets; and Charles Campbell: Black Breath Archive, an audiovisual exhibition by the Victoria-based, Jamaican-raised artist.
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13750 88th Avenue, Surrey 604-501-5566
The Polygon Gallery

Ghosts of the Machine
Until August 14
This international group show explores relationships between humans, technology, and ecology. Work includes a new commission by Cease Wyss (Skwxwú7mesh) consisting of a garden project inside the gallery with the artist tending to the plants throughout the run of the show. An augmented reality experience by Tracey Kim Bonneau (Syilx) will be featured in the garden. Other pieces include Singapore’s Ho Tzu Nyen’s No Man II, an installation with dozens of avatars—human, beast, and hybrid—who quote John Donne’s poem No Man Is an Island. In her self-portraiture, New York-based Juliana Huxtable poses as a trans-species entity. Berlin-based Anne Duk Hee Jordan’s Ziggy and the Starfish is an interactive sculpture modelled after cresting waves and covered in blue shag carpet. Other artists include Shanghai-based rising international art star Lu Yang, whose work was last seen at The Polygon’s fall 2020 exhibition Third Realm, and Montreal-based artist Skawennati.
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101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver 604-986-1351
Griffin Art Projects

Per Diem
Until August 28
A flight attendant for more than 40 years, the late Gerd Metzdorff (1948–2020) began buying art with savings accumulated from per diems. The collector was most drawn to German contemporary photography, American pop art, minimalism and post-minimalism. The first public presentation of Metzdorff’s private collection, Per Diem focuses on photography as well as printmaking and drawing. It features 100 pieces with work by Lynda Benglis, Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and others.
1174 Welch Street, North Vancouver 604-985-0136
The Reach Gallery Museum
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Game/Culture
Until September 3
Work by four Canadian contemporary artists comments on the impact of sports and games on gender, sexuality, race and ability. The exhibiting artists are Lucas Morneau (from New Brunswick), Nathalie Quagliotto (Quebec), Mallory Tolcher (Ontario) and Craig Willms (B.C.). In addition, guests are invited to shoot hoops, throw a wiffleball and face off in a mini-putt challenge. The gallery is also screening the Academy Award-winning short documentary The Queen of Basketball, about Lusia Harris. Harris scored the first basket in women’s Olympic history and was the first and only woman ever drafted to the NBA.
32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford
Kurbatoff Gallery
This year, the Kurbatoff celebrates its 20 years of promoting contemporary Canadian artists. The South Granville gallery also provides consultation to individuals and corporate clients for its diverse collection of paintings, sculptures, and photography. In 2020, Corporate Vision recognized the Kurbatoff’s significance in the Vancouver visual arts scene with a Canadian Business Award for Best Commercial Art Gallery.
2435 Granville Street 604-736-5444