From New Delhi to Nanaimo: Ferry captain captures Canada through art

A man says BC Ferries remind him of the beauty within Canada. Andrew Johnson reports.

For many in British Columbia, BC Ferries is simply a way to get from point A to point B, and complaining about delays and cancellations is a popular West Coast pastime. But Mayank Rehani, a ferry captain based in Nanaimo, sees the service very differently.

“People see this (as) a means of transportation,” Rehani said. “But people have to realize there’s a lot of emotion there, a lot of people working for them around the clock.”

For Rehani, the vessels represent much more than a people-hauler. They are a canvas, a story, and a daily reminder of the beauty he sees in his adopted home.

“When you look at those mountains, the waves, the sea, the whales … it gives me pleasure,” Rehani said.

So, he decided to pour that emotion into watercolour paintings.

“I thought, why not paint every vessel and write a story on it,” Rehani said. “The history of the vessel, how they have served, the different communities and people, and how beautiful they look.”

Rehani finds the process relaxing and says it reduces stress, fills him with gratitude and with “love,” he said. “It’s mostly love.”

He has painted more than 10 BC Ferries vessels from a fleet of 37, one of the largest in the world, and plans to immortalize the rest in watercolour over the next five months, “if I do it consistently.”

Rehani’s paintings are now displayed on several ferries, and others can be found on his website and social media account, Captain’s Easel. He has also branched into portraits of his colleagues, sharing their stories through art.

Rehani’s journey from New Delhi to Nanaimo, B.C. is one marked by appreciation for a country and way of life he feels fortunate to experience.

“This is a luxury, what I’ve been given. And I should appreciate it. And I will try to make sure that everyone should appreciate it because they already have it. They don’t have to go anywhere else,” he said.

“The biggest thing is how positively you see your life, how you help different people, how you help your community, and how you move forward. This is the goal of my life.”

Rehani’s perspective was born at sea, before coming to Canada, when he worked aboard container ships in the vast open ocean.

“We were stuck in a hurricane,” he said. “And that day I realized we are nothing. So where will ego take us? Or where will that monetary thing we achieve in our life take us? All those things are irrelevant.”

For Rehani, every brushstroke and every voyage is a step toward the goal of living in the moment, celebrating not only the vessels he pilots but the life he, his wife, and his young son have built in Canada.