Longtime friends share experimental and process-based arts practices through cyanotypes, film, photography, and more

Surrey, BC – This summer, Surrey Art Gallery launches a new two-person exhibition “Experiments in Solitude” by Brittney Appleby and MV Williams, on view from June 28 to August 16. Admission is free.

Experiments in Solitude is an exhibition of analogue photography, videography, cyanotypes, and more. As longtime friends, the artists’ practices inform one another and build upon each other’s growth. The mediums and processes they work in are time-based and are often done alone, like with the development of film in a darkroom or with the temporal and slow process of cyanotype photography, where one is subject to the intensity and longevity of the sun’s rays.

Appleby’s and Williams’ work grows from the unexpected and everchanging nature of their mediums. The allusion of control over these experimental processes relates to the subject matter of their work: Appleby often refers to experiences with chronic illness and disability and Williams reflects on memory and the relationship to place and home.

Appleby, in particular, often incorporates their background in painting, printmaking, and drawing into their film and photographic works. Williams leans into process-based methods of making, experimenting with fibre works, image transfers, and collage. As part of the exhibition, there will be a large-scale window installation looking out to the Arts Centre courtyard of the artists’ collaged photographic negatives and analogue film cells.

Gallery Curator of Art & Education Initiatives Alanna Edwards, who curated the exhibition, says, “Appleby’s and Williams’ works span a range of materials and processes that delve into the meaning of being in the world, from what our bodies experience daily to the ever-present memories embedded in the land and environment. The artists’ works draw you in both conceptually and materially, from the brilliant blue hues of cyanotypes to the delicately decaled and torn edges of collage.”

Experiments in Solitude will be celebrated alongside the permanent collection exhibit 10 and 10: Story of Stories at the Gallery’s summer [e]merging Art Party on July 5 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Visitors can contribute to a collage inspired by MV Williams’ ideas about home, place, and memory and listen to 10 and 10 exhibiting artists Lyse Lemieux and Sara Khan in conversation with Assistant Curator Jas Lally.

Afterwards, the celebration continues offsite at UrbanScreen with commissions from the 5X Festival art program featuring artists Chand Bhangal, Harleen Grewal, Stuti Gulati, Pavan Sangha, Nishita Malik, Aman Khinda, and Sabid Ali, curated by Sahil Mroke. Other works that will be shown are Justen LeRoy’s Lay Me Down in Praise, a celebration of Black environmentalism, and Annie Briard’s Refracted Fields, a shimmering vision of Northwest Coast landscapes.

Also in connection to Experiments in Solitude is a pre-registered cyanotype workshop “Brilliant in Blue” on July 19 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and an artist talk on August 7 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

About Brittney Appleby

Brittney Appleby (she/they) is a queer interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker with a primary focus in experimental analogue film and photo techniques. Appleby works with 16mm, Super 8, 35mm photo film, polaroid and wet plate collodion (tintype) photography. They are inspired by the materiality of analogue practices and incorporate their painting, drawing, and printmaking background into their films and photographs. Common themes that Appleby explores in their work are the body, chronic illness, healing, and memory. Their film works have been featured in film festivals across Canada and internationally in Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Australia, Hungary, and the US. Appleby currently resides on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations, otherwise known as Vancouver, BC.

About MV Williams

MV Williams is a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh/Wetʼsuwetʼen photo-based artist and visual artist. Their work has a focus on memory and personal narrative. Their work has been presented at The Polygon Gallery with Response:All Woven Together (2024) and at the Vancouver Art Gallery with Vancouver Special: Disorientations and Echo (2021). They reside in their home territory, Vancouver.

About Surrey Art Gallery

Internationally recognized for its award-winning programs, Surrey Art Gallery, located at 13750 88 Avenue in Surrey on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations, is the second largest public art museum in Metro Vancouver. Founded in 1975, the Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national, and international artists, including digital and audio art. Its extensive public programs for children through to adults aim to engage the public in an ongoing conversation about issues and ideas that affect our communities and to provide opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. Admission is free. Surrey Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the City of Surrey, Province of BC through BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Surrey Art Gallery Association.