Your doctor can prescribe you a visit to the Vancouver Art Gallery's new nature exhibition
If you’re feeling like you might need to take some time to reconnect with nature and art, your doctor or health care provider can prescribe you a visit to the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG).
The VAG announced the launch of its new Art of Wellbeing lab, which it describes as a “pilot project that seeks to benefit the wellbeing of community members through the arts by leveraging an established ecosystem of researchers, scientists, physicians and Indigenous Elders and healers.”
BC Parks Foundation
The lab offers initiatives, including the opportunity for health care providers to prescribe a visit to the Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape exhibition via the BC Parks Foundation’s PaRx program.
The exhibition runs until Jan. 4, 2026, and “draws out the question of the opening and closing-off of space in Carrās landscapes by contrasting a densely hung group of paintings with sparsely hung later works that depict an open horizon,” states the art gallery.
The BC Parks Foundation notes that each prescribed visitor and their guest will be offered free admission to the gallery, a wellness kit, and a special printed guide for the Emily Carr exhibition.
“The works on display not only encourage slow looking and mindfulnessāwhich will bring about a sense of calm and reduce feelings of anxietyābut also cultivate local viewersā connection to their land, language, place and community,” said the foundation.
“Visitors are then encouraged to go outside and spend time exploring local parks or getting involved in protecting nature.”
The BC Parks Foundation launched its PaRx initiative in 2022, allowing doctors to prescribe patients free access to parks around the country.