Remembering Komagata Maru

Surrey Art Gallery's group exhibition, “Ruptures in Arrival: Art in the Wake of the Komagata Maru” marks the 100th anniversary of the Komagata Maru episode, with 10 artists that address the past and recent mass migration from Asia. 
The exhibit launches with a free talk with exhibiting artist and Toronto filmmaker Ali Kazimi on April 12 at 6:30, followed by an opening reception at 7:30 p.m.
The artists explore history's relationship to memory, mass media's affects on personal experience, and the visual narratives of transpacific mass migration through painting, drawing, scupture, film, and photography. The exhibition features the world premiere of Toronto filmmaker Ali Kazimi’s new immersive 3D film installation on the lives of South Asian Canadians on shore during the Komagata Maru's detention.Other featured artists include: Roy Arden, Avantika Bawa, Evan Lee, Ken Lum, Raghavendra Rao,and Paul Wong. This exhibitionlaunches on April 12 and continues untilJune 15.

The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship that sailed to Vancouver in 1914, carrying 376 passengers from Punjab, India. Only 24 passengers were allowed to land, and following 2 months of detention in Vancouver's harbor, the ship was forced to return to India. The Komagata Maru episode has come to reflect a troubling moment in Canadian history when the federal government's discriminatory immigration policies coincided with widespread racism among mainstream Canadian society. 
“Ruptures in Arrival: Art in the Wake of the Komagata Maru” is presented in partnership with “Komagata Maru 1914 – 2014: Generations, Geographies & Echoes,” a collaboration between eight organizations across Metro Vancouver that are presenting events and exhibitions related to the living legacies of the Komagata Maru episode. For more information, visit  www.komagatamaru100.com.
 
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