The Blue Building Gallery

how to be…excerpts from how to be 57, 2018 is an accumulation of hundreds of hours of drawing.

Individual faces and features are densely layered. Faces often overlap and hands often hold them close.

This repeated gesture of holding echoes an attempt the work makes to hold many experiences—often grieving, sometimes conflicting experiences, together in one piece.

The work will remain on view until June 13th.

And the artist, lucie chan () will give a talk this Saturday 30 May at 1:30pm.

Please join us to learn more about this extraordinary work.

Images of figures in water recur throughout “how to be…excerpts from how to be 57, 2018.”

Often they appear to be carrying things—their belongings, each other—through flooded places.

For chan, these images are connected to stories about climate change, floods and rising tides, which were (and remain) prevalent while she was producing “how to be 57.”

In conversation with the many other stories woven into “how to be 57” these images consider the intersections of displacement, migration and environmental degradation.

They depict human fragility and point to inequities. Asking us to consider who these changes affect most.

—

To hear more, join us this Saturday 30 May at 1:30pm for an artist talk.

lucie chan () and gallery director, Emily Falencki will be in conversation in the gallery from 1:30-2:30pm. All are welcome, and questions are encouraged!

Please join us,

next Saturday, May 30, 2026

at 1:30pm for a conversation in the gallery between

artist, lucie chan —
and gallery director, emily falencki

come for insights and bring questions
about chan’s current exhibition
“how to be…excerpts from how to be 57, 2018”

lucie chan, “how to be…excerpts from how to be 57, 2018” is a monumental, single-wall installation composed of drawings, writings, rubbings, digital prints and other paper-based sculptural elements.

Assembled from drawings and investigations made between 2012 and 2018, the works is a rich archive of stories chan collected while travelling throughout Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, the UK and Canada.

What drew chan to these places? For them, it was a juxtaposition of natural beauty and colonial history. While exploring these landscapes, chan listened to the news and collected stories from locals. Often about personal experiences—with immigration, with the law, with climate change, with protest.

While listening chan drew, and collected rubbings of textures found in the landscapes. These rubbings frame or form the background of many elements in the installation. Sometimes figures emerge from within them. Other times they take on the qualities of a bruise or broken skin.

As records of the physical places chan visited and drew from, they offer a counterpoint—yet another language—to the polyphony of figures, names and texts that compose the entire work.

💙
📸

opening soon 💙

Please join us for the opening celebration of “how to be…excerpts from how to be 57, 2018” a new solo exhibition of work by lucie chan ()

how to be… will open with a reception at the gallery this Saturday, May 2nd from 3pm - 5pm. The artist will be in attendance and all are welcome.

more soon,
tbb 💙