The history of the 1970s and 1980s farmworker movements is dug up in Ghosts In The Fields, the feature exhibit at Surrey Art Gallery this fall.
Artist Jagdeep Raina's solo exhibit draws inspiration from archival images and interviews by media artist Craig Berggold and filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, and includes Raina’s own interviews with union organizers and agricultural workers.
The art considers "a significant moment in the geographical, cultural and political landscape" in the Lower Mainland of B.C., a time when migrant workers and union organizers from the Canadian Farmworkers Union protested wage theft, long hours and exploitative working and living conditions endured by racialized farmworkers on farms and in greenhouses.
A stop-motion animation positions the labour movements against the current backdrop of the Lower Mainland, and Raina’s black-and-white drawings are inspired by Berggold’s archival photographs taken in the 1980s.
"What initially appear as idyllic scenes of farmworkers labouring in fields reveal a fiery red ghostly figure that disrupts the monochromatic composition," explains a media advisory from the art gallery. "This figure symbolizes violence, exploitation, trauma and loss experienced by the farmworkers. The works serve as ghostly reminders of past lived experiences while also reminding us of the ongoing farmworker movements in India since 2020."
Hand-stitched quilts also show farming activities, protests "and the pivotal role of women in the labour movement to unionize farmworkers." Women are depicted marching and protesting, with one tapestry featuring a poem written by Raina telling the story of a female farmworker and revealing the dangers faced by women in agricultural work.
Raina is an interdisciplinary artist and writer from Guelph, Ontario. He holds a master’s degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and was a 2021 Paul Mellon Fellow at Yale University. Raina currently lives and works in Queens, New York City.
Indian Summer Festival is the community partner for the exhibition of Ghosts In The Fields, which opens Saturday, Sept. 21 with an evening conversation with Raina starting at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free at the event, moderated by educator and community organizer Harji Sangra, with a poetry performance by Phinder Dulai and music by DJ Aanam from Tala Collective.
The Sept. 21 launch will also celebrate Surrey Artswest Society's exhibit of paintings, drawings and mixed media works, as well as Cheryl Pagurek: Winter Garden, an interactive digital collage developed out of a still-life photography series.
Also at Surrey Art Gallery, the Thursday Artist Talk on Sept. 12 welcomes Burnaby-based Taslim Samji, who will share how she was inspired to start curating exhibitions, how her practice has evolved over the years and the challenges she has had to overcome to bring them to fruition. She'll be joined by Mehb Rahmetulla and Dr. Galib Bhayani to discuss immigration experiences from Uganda to Canada, as showcased in a 2023 exhibit at the gallery.
