Barkat
Barkat was a project that was designed and facilitated by multi-disciplinary artist Nimra Bandukwala and took place at Immigrant Services Guelph-Wellington from February to August 2025.
The word Barkat has its roots in Arabic and translates to abundance, blessings and/or good fortune. In the artist’s mother tongue, Urdu, Barkat is often used to describe the essence of hosting, such as having barkat when serving food, and going above and beyond to make sure guests feel warmed, welcome, and taken care of.
This is the spirit from which this project emerged – as a creative invitation to those who have recently migrated from their homelands to be welcomed to a space that brings together land-based creative practices, ecology, and storytelling. In collaboration with three guest artists, six workshops were facilitated from March – August 2025. The workshops were focused on place-making, process and experimentation. Workshops included working with natural dyes to create marks and patterns on fabric, exploring the alchemy of natural inks, working with the delicacy of pressed flowers, creating sculptural pieces inspired by birds from our homelands, and creating nature mandalas using dried flowers and plants. Project participants were primarily from Eritrea, with some participants from Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Pakistan. Participants were invited to learn skills related to identifying and processing plants, play with materials, share stories, and connect with intuitive and ancestral forms of knowing.
The project exhibition and showcase was held at Art Not Shame, Guelph from October 20th – November 14th 2025
This project was supported by the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Communities and Schools Projects Grant.
