The history - both real and imagined - of Ceperley Mansion is the inspiration for a new exhibition at the Burnaby Art Gallery.

The Gaze of History: Portraits from the Collection with Drawing Installation by Elizabeth MacKenzie is a new exhibition that runs at the gallery from July 6 to Aug. 26.

It includes the work of contemporary Vancouver artist Elizabeth MacKenzie, along with a selection of portrait drawings and other works on paper from the gallery's collection.

MacKenzie is creating a site-specific drawing installation in both the main and upper-floor galleries, exploring the history of Ceperley Mansion before it became the Burnaby Art Gallery in 1967.

Her work will represent the real and imagined faces of former residents of the mansion, from 1910 to 1966, hand-drawn by MacKenzie with graphite powder on the walls of the gallery.

"My research in the archives has revealed that there is no continuous, accurate history of the residents of Ceperley Mansion," MacKenzie said. "There are both real and imagined stories of the house and the people who have lived there. This drawing installation is about an artist responding to the fascinating history of Ceperley Mansion."

Alongside MacKenzie's work will be works from the gallery's collection that explore the conventions of portraiture and the exchange of the gaze through drawing, printmaking, photography and painting.

Darrin Martens, the director-curator of the gallery, said the two sets of work will complement each other.

"MacKenzie's inventive approach to the portraits from the gallery's collection will complement and contrast with the wall drawings," he said. "The works from the collection also have their own history, and this exhibition offers the residents of Burnaby and visitors alike an opportunity to project their own interpretation of the faces. The Gaze will engage them with the real and imagined history of Ceperley Mansion and of the portrait genre itself."

The gallery is at 6344 Deer Lake Ave and is open Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Admission is by donation.

For more about Burnaby Art Gallery, check out its website at www.burnabyartgallery.ca or call 604-297-4422.

For more about MacKenzie, see her blog at blogs.eciad.ca/elizabethmackenzie.