Exhibition dates: March 5–May 5, 2026
Opening reception: Thursday, March 5, 4:30–6pm
Location: Amelia Douglas Gallery, 51, New Westminster Campus
Connective Tissue, a solo exhibition by , opens March 5 at the Amelia Douglas Gallery, presenting a series of sculptures that transform emotion into physical form.
Working with ceramics, crocheted yarn and needle-felted wool, Sintnicolaas describes her sculptures as manifestations or “petrifications” of emotion. Drawn to ceramics and textiles for their simultaneous strength and fragility, she uses traditional craft techniques to mirror the instability – and resilience – of human emotional life.
The exhibition explores “bodily memory,” the concept that trauma embeds itself within the body’s cellular structure. The organic yet unrecognizable sculptures on display in Connective Tissue encapsulate the complexities of post-traumatic stress, rendering the familiar into uncanny forms through a visceral process of defamiliarization.
Pulling from their own experience as a queer person living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and chronic illness, Sintnicolaas uses material, texture and surface to broaden conversations around mental health and the limits of representation. The resulting sculptural landscape invites viewers to engage emotionally with states of being that can be difficult to articulate in words.
An opening reception will take place on Thursday, March 5, 4:30–6pm. The event is free and open to the public.
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Contact
Aline Bouwman
Communications Advisor
bouwmana@douglascollege.ca
About 51
51 is the largest college in B.C., combining the academic foundations of a university and the employer-ready skills of a college to graduate resilient global citizens who adapt, innovate and lead in a changing world.
51 respectfully acknowledges that our campuses are located on the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), scəw̓aθən (Tsawwassen) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples.
For more information, visit douglascollege.ca