HUMBOLDT — An interactive exhibit by Madhu Kumar focusing on the stories of immigrant women who travelled to Saskatchewan for a new start will be available for viewing throughout March and April in Humboldt.
The exhibit, “Madhu Kumar: The Stories of Immigrant Women,” includes portraits of nine immigrant women, augmented reality and audio components to allow for visitors to watch and hear immigrant women tell their stories from the canvas through the Artvive app.
Kumar said that by adding the audio and augmented reality components, it allows her to share the actual voice of each person, with accent and emotion.
“If you see these women coming alive to talk, it’s a very different experience,” Kumar said. “If I’m talking I have my own accent of English, you connect more when you hear from me. You see the personality.”
Kumar is an immigrant woman herself, having emigrated to Toronto in 2001. In 2017, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Regina with Great Distinction, and holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees from India.
She said the project was inspired by her own experiences and what she saw amongst her peers.
“I met many immigrant women, newcomers, refugees, and I saw their struggles first hand because I was also going through my struggles to adapt to the culture to be able to accept the language. There are many, many challenges when you come to a new country, I was going through mine and I saw more challenges with other women.”
At the time, Kumar said she didn’t know what to do with the stories, but after moving to Regina for her Fine Arts degree, it developed into a whole exhibit. The process began with a video interview in each person's home, and then she chose details to develop the composition of her painting.
The oil paint portraits are specifically designed to honour the subjects through mirroring the size of formal portraits one might see of bank presidents, political leaders or aristocrats. She said the goal of her work is to create a respectful space for each woman to be heard, as retelling events can feel like reliving them.
“It’s generally to empower each and every woman. These are the stories we take, we get empowered by others stories,” Kumar said.
“We are empowering each other, we are teaching each other some lessons, you can take inspiration from each other, it’s the support for each other.”
The exhibit will be on display from March 1 until April 23. Kumar advises visitors to download the Artvive app on their smartphone before visiting.
Kumar said the most positive feedback she’s received from viewers was that it gave them “patience.”
“They said my stories have changed their mindset, that now they’re different people, they have patience now where before they didn’t understand immigrant women.”
This exhibit is brought to Humboldt through the Arts on the Move program from the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils (OSAC).
