Close-up of a gray metal electrical panel with circular dials and faint warning text embossed on the surface.

TEMPORARY EXHIBITS

Discover What’s New

Our temporary exhibits bring fresh perspectives and timely stories to the Museum of Health Care. Developed in collaboration with researchers, artists, and community partners, these changing displays highlight new discoveries, untold histories, and contemporary issues in health and medicine. From thought-provoking explorations of public health and medical innovation to creative projects that connect personal experiences with Canada’s health heritage, each temporary exhibit offers visitors something new to see and learn.

A hallway with decorative yarn art hanging from the ceiling, displayed alongside informational posters on the walls.

Now Open: They are loved - an epidemic of grief

They are loved-an epidemic of grief is a textile installation exploring disenfranchised grief and addiction, motivated by the loss of Tracey-Mae Chambers’ son, Parker. Each piece of clothing or other textile based material used in this installation has been donated by someone who is surviving the loss of someone due to the consumption of a harmful substance that resulted in death.

Tracey-Mae Chambers is an installation artist and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. Since 2021, Chambers has been traveling across Canada creating site specific fibre-art installations at residential school historical sites, cultural centres, museums, art galleries, and other public spaces mapping questions of identity while sparking dialogue on displacement, decolonization, and reconciliation. To date she has created at Rideau Hall, Aga Khan Museum, the Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 and over 150 other sites.

by Métis artist Tracey-Mae Chambers

They are loved begins in the Museum’s temporary gallery and weaves throughout the Museum. Complementing the exhibit is an interactive video station showing a number of short films that delve into the inspiration and creative process behind the piece.


A colorful, textured mobile made of fabric and yarn hanging from ceiling.

Exhibit details:

Dates: 1 July-3 October 2025

  • 1 July-30 August: Open every day

  • 31 August-3 October: Open Wednesday-Friday

The exhibition features an interview with artist Tracey-Mae Chambers, an album of those remembered in the exhibit, and support resources for addiction.

The Museum of Health Care is grateful for the support of Ontario Power Generation Regional Empowerment Grants Program, who sponsored this installation.

The words "POWER" in large green letters and an arrow pointing to the right. Smaller black text to the left says "spring into".

Past Exhibits

A man wearing glasses, a striped cap, and a dark jacket is looking closely at exhibits in a museum display case, with several informational panels and artifacts visible in the background.

This exhibit explored the evolution of psychiatric care in the 19th and 20th centuries through the lens of Rockwood Asylum, Kingston’s first psychiatric hospital. Through artifacts, text and supplementary digital resources, the exhibit traced shifts in approaches to care from Rockwood’s founding to its closure. 

This exhibit was made possible through the Paul Osmond Robertson Memorial Fund. 

Custodial to Curative Care: Rockwood and the Evolution of Mental Health Treatment (2023-2025)