The original medium of the primary source was in the format of a book, which had visual representations of the text mixed in to show the settings that were being described in them. The medium that we are adapting it to ties into the overarching idea of Drift, which is the transportation of people by boat through the waters at sea. We are focused on developing our medium into a paper mache sculpture of a boat, which will be used to reflect the vessel that has carried many migrants to their deaths, but also managed to send a few people onto land so that they could restart their lives in a place that they could call home in the future (Mainwaring and Brigden). The structure will be layered with printed-out paper articles and narratives that tie in with other migration successes and failures to show the contrast that a boat provides in its transportation of people across the sea.
A structure built in the form of a boat is a depiction of the vessel that is used to transport migrants to the places. Not only does it transport people to new places in the world, but it also transports stories behind each trip that it makes. For the migrants, those who chose to travel by boat, oftentimes have their own personal reasons as to why they have to leave their native home. It shows their urge to look for an escape which allows them to thrive in a better environment compared to the places that they had originally lived in. Traveling on water is made possible through the structure of a boat, so in a sense, the boat acts as a passageway to a new life, but it also can lead its passengers to their demise underwater. These stories build up the meaning of a boat, in that it is an arduous journey for migrants to undertake to find a better place for living at the cost of their own safety. Many lives are lost at sea due to the laws that had set precedence over caring for nation’s borders and the enforcements of keeping unknown vessels away. However, novels like Drift, show the inhumane conditions that migrants are often put through in an attempt to survive on water and outdoor conditions with inadequate tools.