Ghost
Alaskan yellow cedar, western red cedar, Fijian mahogany, oak, ash, olive, walnut, and mixed media.
23”h x 31”w x 22’l

Ghost is a kayak; a sculpture as vessel, coffin, bed, costume and camera rig.
It is designed to ferry people to the island of the dead.
To initiate this process, for the Whitstable Biennale, the destination is Deadman's Island, a small island off Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey. Deadman’s Island was used as a burial site for bodies of people who had died on the prison hulks moored in the Swale in the 18th and 19th C.
So, Ghost is a vessel for visiting the dead. Its design (eg; the deck patterns, eyes in the hull, the position of the passenger, its cargo including wormwood seeds, etc) is influenced by the possibility of this encounter.

Ghost is fabricated by Glyn Edwards (www.glynedwardskayaks.co.uk.). It is designed by Chodzko to have a rower in the back, and a member of the public in the front. The passenger lies down low and flat. Like a body in a coffin with their head slightly raised.
A dome in the deck of the kayak also separates them physically and visually from the paddler at the back. On the deck is a mount for a camera which records the journey of the kayak from across its bows. Therefore Ghost generates a record of its own journeys and this footage will be archived as each passenger makes their own unique journey.
During exhibitions Ghost will appear and disappear from the exhibition space in order to visit islands of the dead. Whether these islands are actual or metaphorical will alter according to circumstance. The marks it accumulates from this usage act as a further record of its activity.

Thanks to:
Arts Council South East, Screen South, University of Kent, AHRC, The Elephant Trust, Queenborough Rowing Club, Art at the Centre. Swale.