'Things I Can Fold, Deflate, and Break': First AGB event for 2026

By Gazette Staff

January 13th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

On Saturday, January 17, 2026, the Art Gallery of Burlington is presenting their first exhibit for 2026 featuring Roda Medhat: Things I Can Fold, Deflate, and Break, on view from January 17 – April 26, 2026 in the Lee-Chin Family Gallery.

Roda Medhat: Things I Can Fold, Deflate, and Break,

“When you find different materials, you want to tell different stories.” With this deceptively simple assertion, Markham-based, Kurdish-born artist Roda Medhat situates material not merely as a medium but a narrative engine. Roda’s work operates in the fertile space where craft, memory, and digital fabrication intersect, and where materials such as soft wool, buoyant inflatable vinyl, and glowing neon each carry their own cultural meanings. The Art Gallery of Burlington’s (AGB) winter 2026 season marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in a public institution, offering a sensory playground where textiles and sculptures act as storytellers.

Roda Medhat’s sculptures translate traditional Kurdish textiles into unconventional mediums such as neon, LED, aluminum, inflatables, and vinyl. Over years of research Roda has collected archival photographs, motifs, and patterns from Kurdistan furniture, signs, headstones, textiles, citadels, and urban structures to create works that weave personal histories within broader cultural narratives. Roda uses the intricate geometric patterns found in West Asian textiles to celebrate the unique design language of the region and the time-honoured crafts that have been passed down through generations traversing layers of time, culture, and identity.

Precision and teamwork paid off as we installed this impressive 41-foot tapestry by Roda Medhat @reallyroda for CIBC C2’s newest exhibition.

Roda Medhat’s Things I Can Fold, Deflate, and Break is generously sponsored by Partners In Art. The AGB is supported by the City of Burlington, Ontario Arts Council, and Ontario Trillium Foundation.