Surrey Art Gallery exhibition explores links among traditional Chinese medicine, oracle-bone characters and the land

Surrey Art Gallery will open TRIPLE BURNER FLOWER FIELD, a free solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist S F Ho, on Oct. 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. as part of the gallery’s fall exhibition opening. Drawing on Ho’s family background in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the new works consider connections between TCM principles and human-ecology relationships, and ask how caring for land can be understood as relational practice.

At the centre of the exhibition is the floor sculpture Triple Burner Flower Field, made of clay arranged in a spiral. It references the oracle-bone character for 回, meaning “return to.” Silk banners hand-dyed with tea and yarrow and printed with oracle-bone characters surround the sculpture, evoking the plant origins of some early written characters that later developed into Chinese script. The works connect ideas of healing and language to the land that shaped them, extending the TCM principle of treating the root rather than the symptom to questions of long-term care, sustainability and reciprocity amid climate change.

The Oct. 3 opening will also celebrate Farheen Haq and Russna Kaur: In the Folds of Memory, tender threads, S F Ho: TRIPLE BURNER FLOWER FIELD, and the closing of Marking the Seasons by the South Surrey and White Rock Art Society. Haq and Kaur will speak with Associate Curator of Engagement Jas Lally, followed by a conversation between Ho and curatorial assistant Zoe Yang. Visitors can also make art with Fiadh of Foxy Verve Atelier.

Ho will lead an exhibition tour on Oct. 4 from 2 to 3 p.m., with live Mandarin and Cantonese translation. The event is presented with Dandelion Action and supported by Simon Fraser University’s David Lam Centre; space is limited and registration is available at [email protected]. A Family Art Jam on Oct. 25 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. will include a guided fall-exhibition tour and artmaking for children and their families; registration is available by calling 604-501-5566 and pressing 0, or by emailing [email protected]. A Family Art Party on Nov. 29 from 1 to 5 p.m. will offer drop-in artmaking workshops and a gallery scavenger hunt. Admission to all events is free.