Peter Adams
Boat People by Peter Adams
Boat People by Peter Adams
Boat People by Peter Adams
Boat People (detail) by Peter Adams
Boat People (detail) by Peter Adams
Boat People (detail) by Peter Adams
Boat People (detail) by Peter Adams
What's an artist supposed to do? For sure, aesthetics is a very large consideration in my sculpture, but the real passion for me involves moving beyond the boundaries of beauty and into the political/social/environmental arena.
We certainly need to surround ourselves with beauty, but the question I pose is this: can a message be told within the aesthetic?
Since 2003, I have carved two Boat People sculptures, each carrying several 'passengers', and a more substantive nine-boat fleet of people seeking asylum away from the ravages of their countries of origin. As I nestled each stone (person) into its berthing, I would be moved, sometimes to tears, sometimes to anger, but always to frustration at Australia's two major political parties - Labour and Liberal - for demonising people fleeing war zones: war zones usually the result of our country's involvement in the bombing of their homeland.
The Boat People sculptures are a simple means of expressing that a journey anywhere involves risk. Not just 'a risk well worth taking', but a risk born of necessity. Whether it's Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or elsewhere, no family wants to leave the place of their birth. To get on a boat is a perilous journey. But it sure beats being executed.
Peter Adams is a sculptor and environmental activist who lives and works in Tasmania.
Website: www.windgrove.com
The work of Peter Adams is further explored in Jay Griffith's article Sailing for Sanctuary, published in the March/April 2016 issue of Resurgence & Ecologist.