JOSIE KO

Josie KO is a Glasgow based artist who creates large scale sculptural installations which transport people into confronting new worlds or ‘utopian belongings’.

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Drawing from research, KO’s practice manifests from an interest in archival texts and a search for sightings and whisperings of the Black existence across the diaspora which challenge the narrative that Blackness in Britain (and specifically Scotland) is recent.

 

Purposely working with traditional and experimental methods and mediums, KO presents newly reimagined sculptural depictions of the Black female body in the context of her imagined worlds. Constructing the women with irregular limbs and glittery bodies glorifies the handmade and drifts from the norms of Western art ideals. This aesthetic departure is derived from KO’s aim to question what a British monument should be and who is deemed worthy of commemoration, critiquing the colonial legacies embedded in our public statues.

 

The scale of KO’s works (which boldly take over entire spaces, interrupting the mundane with a kaleidoscope of colour and texture), demands attention, mirroring the power and visibility she aims to restore to historically marginalised people. 

 

By reimagining the past, KO seeks to shape the future—creating work that challenges dominant histories and asserts the enduring presence and strength of Black people in Britain.