Thunder Bay -- Blake Evans is letting his artistic passion make a statement about today’s refugee crisis.
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery on Friday began the student juried exhibition, an annual exhibit featuring Lakehead University Visual Arts department. Evans is among the 42 students displaying 88 pieces of art work at the local gallery.
"I used about 97.5 rose thrones to represent those people who are still looking for placements and two and a half roses to symbolize those who have found placements," Evans said.
"I chose an Arabic phrase meaning welcome, to bring those people together and welcome them to a country such as Canada."
Evans came up with the idea when he overhead students talking about percentage rates at a mock refugee camp set up at Lakehead University in February.
"It's a very current issue right now, lots of people have different views on it and I chose to represent my view through an artistic language."
The student juried exhibit was first hosted by the art gallerymore than 30 years ago to showcase the artwork produced by the students throughout school year.
Each piece is chosen by a jury of visual art instructors and displayed at the gallery for a five-week exhibition.
"I like that you can view things in different ways, you can take everyday items that people throw away and build it into something different giving it a whole new meaning," Evans added.
The exhibition runsuntil April 10.
