BOAT began in 2009 with the gift of a model boat during a visit to coastal Newfoundland. What began as a personal curiosity developed into a larger photographic research project exploring the significance of maritime modelmaking in Atlantic Canada.

The exhibition brings together photographs, artifacts, and stories of model boats—dories, ferries, schooners, and other vessels—photographed at sea, on shore, and on display. Blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, Knight’s photographs reanimate the memories, imaginings, and experiences held within these miniature vessels and the people who create and cherish them.

Crafted by fishermen during their leisure time or made to commemorate and plan ships, model boats are material traces of Atlantic Canada’s histories of labour, leisure, fishing, and shipbuilding. As these industries and communities change, the tradition of modelmaking is increasingly at risk of being lost. Yet these vessels continue to connect stories, places, and generations.

Created across beaches, harbours, and sites throughout Mi’kma’ki, BOAT also includes early black-and-white photographs from Knight’s career, connecting past and present through the enduring language of the camera and the model boat.