Josie KO

A photo of a sculpture of a woman's head and torso. The sculpture has curly hair and is painted blue.

A large tented figure is displayed in a hall. It is wearing a long blue dress and their hands are rested on their hips. In the centre of their skirt there is a parting where people can enter.

A ceramic figure of a nude woman with water spraying behind, surrounded in blue sparkly material.

A blue water fountain featuring ceramic nude figures is underneath a domed blue ceiling with walls decorated by sparkly blue fabric.

A film is projected on a dark wall. The still is a close up of a person's eyes, bathed in blue light.

A woman, painted all in blue, wearing a turban and a strapless top looks to the side. The background is of a wooded landscape.

Two women face each other, they are wearing white turbans. They look upwards. In the background is a wooded landscape.

A woman with long braids, wearing a crown, looks upwards in a dreamy fashion. She is painted blue. In the background is a waterfall.

A woman, painted all in blue, raises her hands with her eyes closed underneath a bright light.

A group of women, all bathed in a blue light and wearing turbans and traditional dress, look excited.

A photo of a sculpture of a woman with curly hair which is painted blue.

Josie KO is a Glasgow based artist who graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2018. Since then she has been a committee member at Transmission Gallery, worked full time at Glasgow School of Art’s Student’s Association, and has exhibited in Dundee, London and Switzerland.

Purposely working with untraditional 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 newly reimagined depiction of the Black female body. Constructing the women with irregular limbs and glittery bodies, the work 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 artist’s hands and movement. Significantly, Josie KO has autonomy toward the work instead of simply perpetuating the racist caricature of the Mammy: she empowers her ‘ladies’ to communicate a narrative which speaks toward her own experiences of being Black British and the topic of intersectionality.

Projects

Programme

Josie KO

fir gorma

5 Florence Street