Sandeep Johal. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography.
“A Force of Possibility, Renewal, and Balance” – the Campbell River Art Gallery’s 2026 Summer Exhibition
By Kristiana Lowe
This summer the CRAG invites you to Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine Across Bodies, Lands, and Worlds, a new exhibition running until August 8th. Featuring work from contemporary Canadian artists Sandeep Johal, Xiaojing Yang, Kourtney Jackson, and Aaron McIntosh, the show presents new perspectives and ways of relating to the concept of the sacred by reimagining the divine feminine as a force of possibility, renewal, and balance.
Sacred in All Forms engages with the divine feminine as a natural force existing throughout the world that is present within all beings, regardless of gender. One way we can imagine this potential is through the traditional Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang, where both feminine and masculine energy exist as two intertwined halves of a balanced whole.[1] In today’s industrialized world, shaped by patriarchal and colonial history, we can understand the present condition as having fallen out of balance and in need of a return to a more Yin, or divine feminine, way of being.[2]
A divine feminine perspective reconnects us with ancient human ways of relating to the world, ways still understood by traditional Indigenous perspectives across Turtle Island, where nature and reality are experienced as interconnected, time is cyclical, and reciprocity is key. The divine feminine allows for bodies, plants, identities, and lived experiences to all hold the potential to be understood as divine and powerful, as is explored in the diverse work of Sacred In All Forms.
Sandeep Johal. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography
Ever On The Verge, from the Beast of Burden Series by Vancouver based artist Sandeep Johal, features three textiles and embroidery installation sculptures examining the complexity of motherhood.[3] Johal uses the characters of a monkey and wolf to explore the range of emotional, physical, and psychological aspects of motherhood that are often left unacknowledged. Ever on the Verge reclaims a sense of power through bringing to light the invisible labour of motherhood, highlighting the resilience and strength of mothers worldwide. Visitors also can catch a glimpse of the artist’s process and development behind this work in our satellite gallery, located in the CRAG lobby!
Xiaojing Yang. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography.
Chinese-Canadian artist Xiaojing Yang’s The Ground Between explores issues of cultural identity through an abstract landscape recalling both the tensions and surprising beauty that can be found when two cultures meet.[4] The work is a dynamic exploration of what happens when Chinese ink and acrylic paints interact. Viewers are invited to take their time exploring this large scale work and to see what kinds of images appear out of the abstract patterns that are reminiscent of networks such as root systems, neural lattice, and fungal structures.
Kourtney Jackson. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography.
Kourtney Jackson, a filmmaker and lens-based artist working in Toronto, reinterprets a biblical story as a tale of returning to a balanced relationship with self, nature, and the divine feminine.[5] Jackson’s heaven’s dew and oxen’s grass draw from the story of Nebuchadnezzar, a Babylonian king cast out into the wild, left to become more and more like an animal, as payment for his pride and cruelty as king. It is only after being humbled through his exile that the king finally returns to his human state. Jackson’s photographic reinterpretation views the story through a Black and feminine lens that understands the message of Nebuchadnezzar as one that calls us to remember our true selves, freed from ideas of human exceptionalism and oppressive authority.
Aaron McIntosh. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography.
Sacred in All Forms features several works by Aaron McIntosh that use quilting to grapple with themes of queer identity, communal grief, and the relationship between queerness and the natural world.[6] McIntosh’s work, such as Kinkquiz No 775: David, combines patchwork quilting, queer archival imagery, and plant entities together to create a visual response to socio-political issues that harm queer people. The artist employs imagery of plants traditionally seen as protective, such as damask rose and lemon balm, to act as a protective veil for the queer bodies embedded in his work, highlighting the relationship between human and nonhuman worlds.
Aaron McIntosh. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography.
In Gloaming Study 4 and Gloaming Study 5, McIntosh also incorporates the concept of the gloaming—the darkening, liminal time of dusk—as a way to symbolize the political atmosphere surrounding queer rights and to also recall the way hiddenness plays a historical role in queer survival and experience.[7]
Aaron McIntosh, Kourtney Jackson, Sandeep Johal. Sacred In All Forms: Artists Reclaim the Divine Feminine. Installation view. Campbell River Art Gallery. Image Credit: Blue Tree Photography.
Through a diverse range of perspectives, materials, and identities, Sacred in All Forms presents a way of thinking about the divine feminine that is unlimited and full of possibility. Looking beyond traditional patriarchal and colonial frameworks, the work in the show inspires viewers to share in the reimagining of the sacred as something indefinite, varied, and all around us.
Sacred In All Forms will run until August 8th. Be sure to check out the upcoming events connected to the show!
Join us on July 4th for Iconography and Identity, an artmaking event where participants explore the sacred through pop culture. On July 12, Words with Jess Housty will take place, a special event with the award-winning and best selling poet! On July 18th we’ll be Listening to the Land with Vanessa Sharkey. Finally, make sure you don’t miss out on the Sacred in All Forms closing mushroom tea-party art activity, Fibre and Fungi with Miss Bumble, on August 8th!
All events are barrier free and by donation. You can register online at our website at www.crartgallery.ca/events.
Notes
- “Yin and yang.” (Ebsco).
- Childs Kelly, Liz. “When God Was a Woman: An Introduction to the Wisdom of the Sacred Feminine.” (Braided Way, August 15, 2021).
- “Current Exhibitions.” (Campbell River Art Gallery, 2026).
- “Current Exhibitions.”
- “Current Exhibitions.”
- “Current Exhibitions.”
- “Current Exhibitions.”
Bibliography
Childs Kelly, Liz. “When God Was a Woman: An Introduction to the Wisdom of the Sacred Feminine.” Braided Way, August 15, 2021. Accessed June 5th 2026.
“Current Exhibitions.” Campbell River Art Gallery, 2026.
“Exploring the Divine Feminine Beyond the Binary, Interfaith Ministry & LGBTQ+ Spirituality.” Chaplaincy Institute. Youtube, Aug 26, 2025. Accessed 23 May 2026.
“Yin and yang.” Ebsco.
