‘It’s art for people’: This one-man kayak project shows the beauty of slowing down

To what lengths would you go to get some peace and quiet? Would you meditate? Journal? How about a lie-down in a custom-built kayak while a man paddles you down the canal without speaking a word? That’s what artist Adam Chodzko is offering the locals of Lancashire this autumn.  

The project is Ghost – a “free multi-sensory experience” – in which Chodzko personally paddles a single passenger down a 40-minute stretch of canal in a one-of-a-kind boat that allows each traveller to recline on their back. The trip is done in silence; each one is recorded as part of a “dream-like” film that will be released later in the year. 

“The original intention was to give passengers the feeling of being a kind of spirit in a landscape which they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access,” says Chodzko, as he buffs and polishes the 22-foot wooden boat. “I think for a lot of people it’s about entering the space that they know really well through biking, running or walking along, for the first time. 

“It’s a really weird thing to travel with a stranger,” he continues. “There’s so many things that are potentially off-putting about it. Maybe because it’s perceived as an artwork or sort of mythological thing people feel that all their normal fears don’t need to count since it’s something different.” 

For Margaret Sims, a recent passenger, the journey was an act of trust. “It was a new experience for me to place myself totally in someone else’s hands and to just enjoy the ride. I’m not one who can just sit around, so I felt I should be helping, and for the first few minutes I wondered what I could do to help the boat along,” she says.

For some passengers, Ghost helped them explore the water for the first time. “People will travel in Ghost and after having a little chat I’ll learn that it was their first time in a boat because they don’t really like the water,” Chodzko says. “It’s that thing of being taught by your parents to not go near water because it’s dangerous.” 

Chodzko says slow TV during the Covid-19 pandemic showed him there is a hunger for relaxed, thoughtful experiences. “People were watching TV where nothing was really happening – like a train or a canal boat,” he says. “But when nothing is happening you begin to see all these intense changes you normally filter out.” 

Leanne Wharton, a 36-year-old local and another one of Ghost’s passengers, agrees. “I was amazed at how it heightened my other senses. Being low to the water gave me a whole different viewpoint. I loved seeing the dragonflies come so close. Travelling in silence allowed me to take in more of the beautiful surroundings along the journey.” 

But Ghost is much more than a sticking-plaster for burnout and aquaphobia. According to Ruth Shorrock, a project manager at Super Slow Way, which is partnering with Ghost for the Lancashire leg of the programme, passers-by frequently stop to marvel. 

“People have stopped us and gone: ‘You know, this town’s been neglected for so long and it’s brilliant that you’re doing stuff like this.’ 

“I think people are really intrigued as to how [Ghost] was built – the craftsmanship,” she says. “I think they’re surprised that something so beautiful is in their town. That’s the thing – they’re not used to seeing beautiful things around them.” 

Lack of access to art in England is often tied to deprivation. Government data showed just 59% of those living in the most deprived areas had engaged with the arts in a 12-month period. However, during the same year, 83% of those in the least deprived areas had interacted with the arts in some form. 

Hyndburn, Lancashire – the borough where Ghost is taking its latest trips – is the 18th most deprived area in England, according to 2019 data. Shorrock, who is from Hyndburn and studied Fine Art, says, “I was thinking how was that world connected to where I’m from, the type of people who live there? It was a very academic, intellectual, niche world,” she recalls. 

Ghost emerged back in 2010, when Chodzko first used the boat to show residents of Isle of Sheppey around the local waterways that are often exclusive to those with finances to fund hobbies on the water. Chodzko explored this idea by ferrying locals to the inaccessible Deadman’s Island – a small piece of Kent marshland that is home to over 200 historical human remains. 

The boat was renovated this year for a new phase of journeys through Lancashire’s historic mining towns. The kayak is also carrying cargo made up of objects that honour the area’s rich industrial history, which mimics the many boats that shuttled cotton up and down the very same canals. 

“Life is stressful for people around here, it’s just surviving,” Shorrock says. “We had a lady who was between chemo and radiotherapy and she said this was the one thing she had in-between to look forward to. 

“It’s art for people. It’s making a difference. People are facing so much. They don’t have the time. These moments carve out the time.”

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