The Looking Glass exhibition in Medicine Hat

DATE : October 10, 2025

DEADLINE: December 7, 2025 - 3:15 am

From October 11 until December 6, 2025, The Looking Glass will be on display at the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat. This is just one stop on the exhibition's three-year tour of the province with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) Travelling Exhibition (TREX) program. 

The Looking Glass is a collection of 17 pieces by 12 artists, curated from the AFA  Permanent Collection. Each piece contains a visualization of reflection, manifesting in different ways. Photographs of common reflective materials prompt contemplation on the relationships we have with the things that surround us, and the impact we have on each other. Distorted self-portraiture forces us to confront conflicting versions of self that exist. Depictions of looking glasses raise questions about credibility and deception. Although common tools for observing and making sense of the world, mirrors are also deeply associated with trickery and illusion. Considering the exhibition, viewers are invited to ponder reflection as a tool for introspection and a method of situating oneself within reality, or, more accurately, one’s perception of reality. 

Featured Artists: James Agrell Smith, Kyle Beal, Stefanja Dumanowski, Cynthia Fuhrer, Christian Grandjean, Tanya Harnett, Gene Leavitt, C.S. McConnell, Paul Murasko, Toni Onley, Felix Plawski and Jacques Rioux

Curated by Sierra Zukowski, TREX Southeast