The renowned Museum of Anthropology at UBC said it is cancelling an exhibit featuring huge paintings of missing women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside out of "serious concerns."

The museum's director, Anthony Shelton, said he made the decision because he fears the exhibition will cause "further distress" to family and friends of the women.

The 69 portraits, each nearly three metres tall, are the work of Vancouver–based artist Pamela Masik and were to be installed at the museum on the University of British Columbia campus in February.

Masik said while she respected the museum's decision, she is not sure how cancelling the exhibition will help confront the issue of missing women who are treated by society as inconsequential.

In a prepared statement, Masik said she is saddened by what she sees as society's continuing refusal to acknowledge what happened to the women.

In 2007, Robert William Pickton was convicted of killing six women, but the DNA of 33 missing women was found on his Port Coquitlam, B.C., pig farm.