Birds Crossing Borders by Kurdish-Syrian multidisciplinary artist Khadija Baker reflects on displacement and the feelings and process of belonging to one’s home.

The exhibit features a series of videos of people telling personal stories, primarily from displaced Syrian communities. It’s a multimedia installation that incorporates sound, video, and falling water, and is dedicated to developing a common memory through storytelling. Videos offer insight into the lives of Syrian refugees in an attempt to destigmatize and humanize them.

Birds Crossing Borders was originally on display in 2018 at the Montreal Arts Interculturels theatre and gallery. It was also featured at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and the Atassi Foundation in Dubai. Currently, visitors can see Birds Crossing Borders at the Salle de diffusion de Parc-Extension.

Baker arrived in Canada in 2001, completed her MFA studies at Concordia University in 2012, and is a key member of the Centre for Oral History & Digital Storytelling (COHDS) at Concordia University. 

When creating art she makes a point of including stories, whether personal stories from her own life or those collected from other people. She creates an environment for people to interact, listen and reflect by including performance, fiber and videos. Her exhibitions explore the uncertainty of home and how they relate to human rights, memory and how to maintain connections between communities when there are differences in values and cultural practices.

Education through stories

Baker explained that the media often depicts the Middle East with images of terrorists, extremists, and war. As a result, she said, can make it hard to accept people neutrally. 

“This kind of project brings a kind of understanding, and educates people about newcomers,” she said. “People like us… are scared of extremists as well. This is something you might not notice but it’s there.”

Baker, who is a refugee herself, explained that she spends a lot of time following news in Syria. She reads, watches T.V., and talks on the phone with her family. The amount of news coverage can get intense.  Hearing the stories of participants was both familiar and a way to fill in gaps. 

Subjects don’t just share anecdotes about life as a refugee. A woman recalls stories of her family life, childhood, and love of cooking meanwhile an activist discusses the importance of humanizing the numbers we see published daily through media outlets.

 In this particular show, she features interviews with three women as she wanted to focus the exhibit from a female lens. She explained that women carry with them a lot of details that we usually don’t always hear from men. 

“Details about the family, the children, or school…I wanted to bring human nature,” Baker said.

Feeling a sense of home

 Also included in her exhibit is a series of plexiglass boxes in varying sizes connected by plastic tubing. 

“It doesn’t matter what size or shape – when they are connected and you fill them with water at different levels, they will have the same level at the end,” she said, “this is part of nature. It doesn’t matter what capacity each individual carries with them – what kind of shape or value they are, they will at the end have the same way of living.” 

This introduces another aspect of the project: integrating and adapting to a new place as a part of life and what people can do for newcomers. 

“You will never feel that same feeling or the other person’s experience,” she said, “It’s not about making the people who come and see feel sad, it’s more about thinking, ‘Okay, I understand what they have been through and I can help some way as well.”

She said she wants people to ask themselves, “what can I contribute?” and how they can help people feel at home. For example, something as simple as saying good morning is a simple gesture that can go a long way towards making someone feel welcome.

Birds Crossing Borders and the community

Geneviève Roberge, Agente culturelle at Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, said that Baker’s exhibition, the originality of its installations statement concerning the recent displacement of Syrian families aligns perfectly into Parc-Extension’s vision. The borough has a very present immigrant population. 69 per cent of the people who live there were born abroad or have at least one parent who was born outside of Canada and there are more than 75 distinct cultural communities in the area.

“We are proud to see that visitors take the time to sit in the room and listen carefully to the three videos,” said Roberge. “In general, visitors are touched by the courage and journey of the three refugees.”

Due to the pandemic and health measures, the opening of the exhibit visits by the artists were put on hold. However, the community still has the opportunity to interact with the exhibit until Jan. 30.

Roberge said, “Khadija Baker is a generous artist concerned with providing visitors with a meaningful experience. This is reflected in her interactions and the way she interacts with others. She is as inspiring a person as her work is necessary.”

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