Seema Shah: Missing Pieces / solo exhibition

×

Expand

Photo courtesy of Outsiders and Others

Seema Shah: Missing Pieces / solo exhibition

August 2 - 30, 2025

Outsiders and Others, #100 – 938 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC

Opening Reception: August 2, 6–8 PM – Free & Open to the Public

Artist Talk and Exhibition Tour: August 16, 2 PM – Free & Open to the Public

Collage workshop with Seema Shah: August 23 from 2-4pm. Register for workshop on our website.

Outsiders and Others is proud to present Seema Shah: Missing Pieces, running from August 2 to 30, 2025.

This exhibition offers a subtle and nuanced representation of the lived experience of complex trauma, challenging preconceived ideas about how personal trauma manifests and is creatively expressed. The exhibition is centered around a collection of 366 miniature collages on 2 3/4 ” x 1 3/8” shipping tags, one created every day of 2024. Collages on vintage envelopes and book covers complement the tags.

Though the primary focus of my work is artistic expression, my creative process is intuitive and largely informed by my lived experience of complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Spontaneous associations and unexpected

juxtapositions give form to subconscious and embodied “knowing,” leading to greater self-understanding. Metaphor and symbolic imagery capture a felt sense, translate what is beyond words, evoke connections between past and present, and link the personal to the universal.

The creative process behind the tags exemplifies how complex trauma can continue to live within and exert an influence yet remain outside conscious awareness. Examining the collaged tags collectively, themes common to complex PTSD emerge, including fragmentation, disconnection, and isolation. Viewed together, the tags convey the relentlessness of the long-term effects of complex trauma.