By Akshata Naik
On Display beginning August 26th
Interactive workshops: September 12th - 16th
Humber College North Campus - Learning Resource Commons Concourse
Bloody Boats is a participatory installation made of red paper boats, metal thumbtacks and glue. Voyage I is a sculpture made of plywood and industrial paint. This sculpture was created as part of City of Toronto’s Year of Public Art Exhibit Home(land): Bodies of Water curated by Claudia Arana at the Cloverdale Mall, West Hub 2021-22
'Bloody Boats + Voyage I’ is an art installation about deconstructing and dismantling the symbol of the traumatic journey that immigrants experience. This piece is as dynamic as an immigrant's journey. The journey of a settler is not only a physical transition, but also a cognitive and social transition that revolves around multiple socio-political narratives. The repeated symbolic shape of a boat on a large scale resonate with the journey of an immigrant who moves for a better life, safe space, or a refugee whose displacement is the result of natural calamity or invasion.
To the artist, this installation represents a personal experience as an immigrant and seeks to echo several voices like hers through similar unsettling journeys which resonate with a large global population of migrants and refugees, both locally and globally. The subject is inspired by narratives illustrating how humans are struggling to strike a balance between virtual life and reality, full of economic distress and devastation, resulting in conscious migration decisions.
Akshata originally from India where the social and cultural fabric is complex in terms of caste, colour and politics, however being a woman of colour in Toronto, she found herself in a comparable position. She establishes a conversation between concepts of inclusion, dignity, consumption and subjectivity by discussing internationally generic problems in the form of symbolism and the multiplicity of all images that challenge viewers with the concept of challenging culture and the environment. Her research continues to explore the fantasy notions of travel in the future and co-existing in both the physical and the virtual world at the same time.
Naik is a graduate from Humber’s Postgraduate Certificate in Arts Administration and Cultural Management.
Interactive Workshops
Join artist Akshata Naik and Humber Galleries in the creation of a new art installation in the LRC Concourse at Humber’s North Campus. Visitors are invited to take part in drop-in workshops to create origami paper boats that will become part of ‘Bloody Boats + Voyage I’ which will be on display in throughout the Fall semester.
When: Monday, September 12th - Friday, September 16th 9am - 5pm
Where: Humber College North Campus - LRC Concourse (1st floor in front of Starbucks)
All are welcome to attend. No bookings, signups, or previous origami experience necessary.
View more of Akshata's work at: