JOSIE KO

Josie KO is a Glasgow based artist who graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2021. Since then she’s been a committee member at Transmission Gallery and been Event’s Coordinator at Glasgow School of Art’s Student’s Association. Josie has since exhibited in Dundee, London, Switzerland and in Glasgow International 2024.

Purposely working with non-traditional methods and mediums (such as paper mâché, glitter and found objects), Josie KO uses these materials’ relegated status in the art world and mixed media techniques to present a new reimagined depiction of the Black female body. Constructing the women with irregular limbs and glittery bodies glorifies the handmade and drifts from the norms of Western art ideals. The scale of her works makes them unavoidably noticeable, counteracting the erasure of Black women in art history and Black female artists. There is a strong sense of the artist’s self in the work, most noticeable with her casted or sculpted face, but also through the tactility of the forms, which document the signs of the artists hands and movement. Employing  radical imagination, dreaming and speculation that amplifies and deepens the limitations of the archive, Josie aims to produce a richer picture of Black existence in Britain, granting a greater perspective on marginalized voices. The result are installations which show imagined world buildings and utopian longings.

Instagram: @josieko_art