Media arts symposium to explore family traditions, memory and artistic experimentation

Surrey Art Gallery will host its Media Arts Symposium, Weaving with Memories, on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The afternoon connects with the exhibitions In the Folds of Memory and tender threads, co-convened by Manjot Bains. The gallery announced the event on Oct. 29, 2026.

Farheen Haq will open the afternoon by sharing a new media work in progress. It draws on the Urdu poetic form ghazal and its capacity to hold difference within two lines. Haq has been studying couplets by 19th-century Indian poet Ghalib and is creating a lyrical, gestural video work reflecting on how ravishing disunities can be held together through beauty and contemplation.

Bains will lead a panel with exhibiting artist Haq and tender threads artists Jonathan Alfaro and Sena Cleave. The conversation will draw on themes in In the Folds of Memory and tender threads, and explore how meaning emerges from each artist’s practice.

The event will conclude with an artmaking activity inspired by Alfaro and Cleave’s work in tender threads. The artists will share techniques for deconstructing found fabric and weaving with organic materials. Participants can use provided materials to make their own weaving.

Weaving with Memories is the 18th edition of Surrey Art Gallery’s annual media arts symposium. The symposium’s first decade focused on sound art, aural experience and audio cultures. More recent editions have examined international video poetry, dance, the COVID-19 pandemic and new digital art practices.

Founded in 1975, Surrey Art Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national and international artists, including digital and audio art. Its award-winning programs engage children through adults in ongoing conversations about issues that affect their lives, and offer opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. The gallery is at 13750 88 Avenue in Surrey, on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen) and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations. The gallery acknowledges operating funding from the City of Surrey, the Province of B.C. through the BC Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Surrey Art Gallery Association.