SURREY, B.C. - Museum of Surrey has announced its 2026 fall exhibits lineup, led by a feature exhibition on hair, identity and belonging that opens today, November 3, 2026.
The feature exhibit, The Many Layers of Hair, runs November 3, 2026 to April 25, 2027. Across cultures and generations, hair carries powerful stories of heritage, identity, tradition, belonging and self-expression, the City says. Using imagery and interactives, the exhibition invites visitors to explore how hair practices reflect cultural traditions, personal beliefs and individual choices, while examining the complex relationship between hair and identity, including the ongoing impact of hair discrimination.
In the Indigenous Hall, visitors can explore Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools, a Legacy of Hope Foundation exhibition that uses archival photographs and documents to tell the stories of the 125-year history of the Residential School System in Canada. Photographs, text panels and artifacts move visitors through leaving home and arriving at school, to school activities and being part of a classroom.
The Community Treasures exhibit, Awakening the Boundless: The Inner Architecture of the Self, invites visitors to explore the world inside themselves. Surrey artist Haisha Shahalimi uses mixed materials, finishes and lighting to bring ideas of humanity and the universe into everyday life. Both the Indigenous Hall and Community Treasures exhibits are on display until December 19, 2026.
“At Museum of Surrey we seek to engage Surrey’s communities and visitors through experiences that are both relevant and engaging. All three of these exhibits do this in different ways, challenging us to reflect on our place and impact in Surrey, and the world,” said Lynn Saffery, Museum Manager.
For Surrey families, the hair exhibition in particular speaks directly to this city’s story. In a city where turbans, hijabs, braids, top knots and countless other hair traditions are part of everyday life, an exhibition about what hair means, and about discrimination over hair, is not abstract. It is about neighbours, classrooms and workplaces here. More information about the fall exhibits and other Museum of Surrey programming is available at surrey.ca/museum.
(Source: City of Surrey media release, November 2, 2026)
