New Westminster Museum is open on National Day for Truth & Reconciliation to provide the community an opportunity to engage with our feature exhibition, "Downstream Where the Waters Mix".

 

New Westminster Museum’s existing long-term gallery focuses on the white euro-Canadian experience. Presenting Indigenous histories, knowledge, and ways of being in a small part of the exhibition space may leave visitors with the understanding that Indigenous peoples and their contributions to our community exist only in the past. 

 

Downstream Where the Waters Mix, a season of Honouring Our Grandmother’s Healing Journey, seeks to disrupt the current narrative and uplift Indigenous histories. Curated by lead visionary artist, Nadine Spence, the exhibition features 13 artists from communities along the Thompson and Fraser Rivers. Chests, artwork, and research-based interventions installed throughout the long-term gallery interrupt and displace the existing stories. Artwork and belongings in the feature gallery space, Gallery 7, expand upon these themes within a dedicated space.

 

Artists share their colonial realities through their work and communicate the importance of grandmothers, mothers and aunties in their lives. We ask visitors to confront difficult and uncomfortable truths. The themes and issues discussed in this exhibition are often of a personal nature and may elicit intense, personal emotional responses.