Exhibiton: Preserving Fragments, March 29, 2025 - March 15, 2026
Art Gallery of Alberta, Main Hall

Preserving Fragments is a meditation on artist Emily Chu’s experience of migration to the Canadian prairies in the early 1990’s. Hand drawn illustrations depict Chu’s childhood apartment in Beijing and her family’s first home in Calgary—two sites that profoundly shaped her identity and sense of self. The accompanying window vignettes offer intimate views into the artist’s fragmented memories, particularly of time spent with her grandmother. The work prompts us to consider the nature of our own memories and what it is—the objects, smells, sounds or images—that we hold onto from the past.

While based upon deeply personal experiences, Preserving Fragments speaks to feelings and questions familiar to many diasporic peoples—the loss of language and loved ones, an unstable connection to identity or place, anxiety around assimilation and hopeful futures.

Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Danielle Siemens.

Botanical pattern for Jacek’s Joy of Asia Collection for Asian History Month.