Opening in January 2026 is Count is Correct by Chantal New.
Count is Correct critically examines the mechanisms of exclusion and control inherent in institutional frameworks. Through drawing, photography, and sculptural installation, Chantal New investigates how power operates through order and routine, revealing the quiet violence embedded in everyday systems of governance, labour, and punishment.
Often used in procedural or administrative settings, the phrase ‘count is correct’ refers to an inventory being confirmed or accounted for. This statement is heard over the intercom at the prison where New teaches each time the count of inmates is verified. The exhibition title draws from this bureaucratic language, illustrating the reduction of humans to inventory and the rigid control exerted over bodies and time within a capitalist framework.
Incorporating materials such as concrete and copy paper, the work references institutional environments—whether office, church, or prison. Detailed drawings and photographs of these spaces are combined with bureaucratic and taxonomic text to explore time and language as instruments of control. The images are characterized by gaps and deliberate omissions, communicating through what is hidden, rather than through what is depicted. Through strategies of fragmenting and combining, cropping and concealing, the viewer’s attention is directed, emphasizing that what is not seen is often more powerful than what is.
At the core of the project is a sculptural work made by filling fluorescent light tubes with concrete and removing their glass exteriors. This gesture transforms a ubiquitous institutional object into something opaque and oppressive. Light, often used to make seeing possible, is also used in practices of surveillance, hypervisibility, and regulation. The manipulation of this object draws attention to this dual function and the ways visibility is utilized to sustain institutional power.
By being attentive to the invisible and ignored, Count is Correct exposes the systems that structure daily life and transforms the act of looking into a powerful gesture of care and resistance.
This exhibition opens January 16th 2026. Stay tuned for more information and reception details!
Chantal New is a conceptual artist based on traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, colonially known as Victoria, BC. Her work combines drawing, photography and sculptural installation to explore themes of connection, separation, and power. Chantal holds an MFA from West Dean College of Art in Chichester, UK and is a partnering artist of the Art Justice Program, an art-based initiative supporting the well-being and dignity of people incarcerated at William Head Institution.