A new immersive, interactive exhibit at Museum of Surrey welcomes visitors to explore diverse meditation techniques practiced around the world, while another aims to educate and raise awareness about high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The latter, WANISKAHTAN, opened Aug. 13, is presented by The Legacy of Hope Foundation in the museum's Indigenous Hall for just a few weeks, until Sept. 29.
The new Meditate exhibition, meantime, opened Tuesday, Aug. 27 in the Feature Gallery for a fall/winter showing, until March 2025.
Exhibits curator Brooke Lees urges Meditate-goers to use all their senses to experience different styles of meditation, including visualization, movement, scent and sound.
"At its core, meditation is quieting the mind and finding clarity amid chaos that we try to manage," Lees said during an exhibit-opening event Thursday, Aug. 29.
"I think more than ever these days, looking at what's happening out there socially, economically, we're looking for tools to help us cope. We're trying to find balance in our everyday lives, so I think on exhibit on meditation is very timely."
Hands-on displays include mindful drawing, rope-braiding, a labyrinth walk, "singing" bowls and the use of a magnet to lead a steel ball through sand. The power of scent is explored with coffee, lemon peel and other smells, and a covered tent invites guests to experience how changing colours can impact our emotions and moods.
A "Finding Serenity in Surrey" display leads the way, and giant images of ocean and forest scenes dominate the exhibit space.
"It's important to us that we create a welcoming environment, and that starts with the look and feel," said Lees. "We wanted to make sure it was friendly and inviting and culturally neutral and fun for all ages, so all of the boxes were checked."
Artist Carly Bouwman created the forest-themed mural at the gallery entrance, and those elements are repeated throughout to create what Lees calls a "natural setting that's quiet, calming and restorative, a place of nature."
Featured is Tour of Cosmos, backlit art by Haisha Shahalimi, who lives in South Surrey. Lees calls the work "quite mesmerizing, and really encourages you to think about our place in the universe and our connection to each other, which is quite unique."
Thursday's opening event featured a "sound bath" performance by Jenny Le in the museum theatre. For close to 20 minutes in the darkened space, visitors were treated to soothing sounds and vibrations from instruments including a gong, rain stick, ocean drum, singing bowls, chimes and more.
Lees said meditation can be a bit intimidating for some.
"I think a lot of people might immediately associate meditation with religion or spiritual practices, so we instead took a different approach," Lees explained. "This exhibit is more of an introduction to meditation, and we wanted to make sure that people understand that meditation isn't inherently religious or spiritual, although it can be, and there are those components. Instead, we wanted to present that this is sort of a personal journey that we're embarking on, and that we can share together despite our differences, despite our religions, our beliefs, our affiliations."
Creation of Meditate took around three months, noted Lees, hired at Museum of Surrey last April after years of work at Britannia Shipyards in Richmond.
"I've noticed so far that people are spending quite a bit of time in there, which is really nice," she said. "They're taking it in, and the atmosphere really does force them to slow down and try different things, maybe take a break and go back in, try something different."
Hopefully, Lees said, "people will learn that meditation here in Surrey is accessible to them. There's lots of programs and classes to try and sign up for. There's forest bathing being encouraged in our Surrey parks, all kinds of resources out there, and we hope people are inspired by what meditation has to offer, potentially, so they can think about their own personal journey."
Admission and parking is free at Museum of Surrey, off Highway 10 in Cloverdale, 17710 56A Ave. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Call 604-592-6956 or visit surrey.ca/museum.
