New Acquisitions celebrates recent gifts and purchases to the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection, a creative resource that tells the story of our community and connects Burnaby to artists and practices worldwide. Representing both the collection trends of local citizens who have generously donated artworks, as well as the mandate of the Gallery to preserve works from diverse perspectives into the future, New Acquisitions showcases a deep plurality of voices. The exhibition features recent work from Shuvinai Ashoona, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Rawan Hassan, Karice Mitchell, Kimberly Fulton Orozco, Manuel Axel Strain, and Tania Willard, as well as historical works by Garo Antreasian, Glenn Brown, Honoré Daumier, Salme Kaljur, Concordia Klar, Pedro Puerta, Ann Newdigate, Robert Rauschenberg, Parviz Tanavoli, Kunisada Utagawa, Andy Warhol, and more.

Edge Effects features a combination of new commissioned works and projects never before seen by audiences in Canada, such as Liz Magor’s still poignant Blue Students/Alumnos en azul (1997). Originally commissioned by INSITE97, the public project centred on photographic portraits of students from the School of Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego, California, and the Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas in Tijuana, Mexico, that were placed throughout both cities. The film negatives were pressed with paper covered in iron salts, which converted into positive blue images as they were exposed to sunlight. By the end of the installation period, only a few portraits had not been completely obscured, with the artist stating that the legibility of the images represented the power of circumstance and chance that governs people’s lives.

Photo credit: Jin-me Yoon, video still from As the Crane Flies Bunker (Sonic Transformations), 2025. 4K and thermal 3-channel video installation with sound, sandbags, netting, and wood. 15:05 minutes, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.

Kintsugi, the Japanese art of “golden joinery,” is a 500-year-old tradition of repairing broken ceramics with natural Urushi lacquer and powdered gold. Rather than disguising damage, it highlights it—honoring imperfection and the passage of time.

Vancouver-based artist Naoko Fukumaru draws on this ancient practice as both a craft and a meditative process. Through her work, she offers a powerful metaphor for personal healing: like broken pottery, our cracks can become part of our story—transformed, illuminated, and made beautiful.

Respecting traditional materials and methods, Fukumaru also pushes the boundaries of kintsugi through instinctive, innovative techniques. Her approach redefines what restoration can mean—bridging history and emotion in work that is both raw and radiant.

This exhibition invites viewers to reflect on what it means to be beautifully broken—and to find strength and beauty in the imperfect.