It's a case of art imitating art.
Dr. Aislinn Hunter and Z·inc artist Willa Downing
Dr. Aislinn Hunter, a creative writing instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and acclaimed novelist of The World Before Us, has influenced a featured artwork in the Surrey Art Gallery's latest group exhibition, A Tangled Thicket.
The exhibition features a large-scale installation by Willa Downing, a member of the South Surrey-based Z·inc Artist Collective. Drawing from dialogue in Hunter's novel, the work transforms text into a sprawling visual piece that spans several walls, exploring themes of interconnectedness, community and memory.
"Unbeknownst to me, Willa had been engaging with my novel," says Hunter. "When I saw Z·inc's art, my jaw hit the floor -- these incredibly talented women are creating art that is intense, joyful, and exquisitely crafted. The range of mediums, visions, and artistry is truly extraordinary."
On view as part of the gallery's 50th anniversary celebrations, the exhibition highlights the collective's enduring commitment to ecological awareness, collaborative practice, and the use of natural materials. Alongside Downing, Z·inc includes artists Lesley Garratt, Cora Li-Leger, and Claire Moore -- a group whose work reflects over a decade of shared creative exploration within the Surrey art community.
"This group exhibition reflects the deep interconnection between consciousness and matter -- what's happening in our minds, in our bodies, and in the world around us," says Rhys Edwards, Assistant Curator at the Surrey Art Gallery. "The name of the exhibition refers to a phrase used by the neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who called the brain a 'tangled thicket' -- a dense, knotty mass of neurons, fibres, axons and dendrites. I wanted to use that as a metaphor for the artwork we see here."
Downing's contribution exemplifies this ethos. Her installation, "The Space Between: The World Before Us," uses pencil, marker, and acrylic on paper to transform fictional dialogue into a visual map of interconnection and communication.
"I was inspired after reading Aislinn Hunter's novel The World Before Us," says Downing. "I've taken dialogue from her book and organized the words into a column of word balloons. Each column belongs to a different character, with lines linking the conversations -- a social system made visible. I wanted to create an environment where you're surrounded by characters and their conversations -- to make a world out of words."
Hunter, who contributed the companion exhibition essay titled "Walk (Beauty) Walk," says the emotional resonance is mutual.
"On opening night, I walked in and there were all these people reading little sections of my book in Willa's piece," says Hunter. "It felt like stepping into a magical, creative space -- as though I were both a voyeur and a participant in something larger than myself. In that sense, Willa has been inside my imagination, and I've been inside hers. It's deeply inspiring."
The exhibition invites audiences into a space where personal memory, ecological systems, and artistic vision merge. From Claire Moore's interactive sculptures to Lesley Garratt's ink paintings and Cora Li-Leger's artist books, each piece challenges the perceived boundaries between humans and the natural world.
A Tangled Thicket is on view at the Surrey Art Gallery through June 8, with free admission.
The KPU Creative Writing Department offers small class sizes and dedicated mentorship with award-winning instructors, nurturing creativity while honing the critical faculties necessary to communicate ideas and succeed. Courses are offered in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, and new media, as well as specific genres such as young adult literature, spoken word, and speculative fiction.
