Secondhand Stories: Crafting the Vernacular

An evocative new exhibition, Secondhand Vernacular, reimagines the meaning of “home” through salvaged materials and forgotten objects. Curated by artist Sarah T. Allen and now on view at Neutral Ground Artist-Run Centre, the show uses architectural fragments, inherited textiles, and discarded household items to reflect on memory, migration, and identity.

The installation draws from domestic settings familiar yet fractured — reassembling pieces of built environments and visual languages passed down or passed over. “The work lives in the tension between the ordinary and the symbolic,” says Allen. “It’s about how meaning is embedded in what we choose to keep, discard, or rebuild.”

Secondhand Vernacular runs until September 15, 2025, with an artist talk scheduled for August 22.