Winter Island: Brendan George Ko – Storyteller
Saturday, March 16th
Studio 2, Artscape Gibraltar Point
1PM – 4PM
Artscape Gibraltar Point’s Winter Island Programming Series continues with a multimedia storytelling session by artist Brendan George Ko.
The artist will invite members of the public to his studio to listen to the stories collected from the oral traditions of the Hawaiian Islands as he translates them through spoken word, documentary video and, landscape photography from Kānaka ‘ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) perspective to a Canadian audience.
Snacks & Beverages Provided
Transportation provided off the 1:00 Ferry departing the city.
Return trip at 4:00PM for the 4:15 Ferry to Mainland
My work is about island people. People who are defined by their relationship both to the water around them as well as the land which is contained within that water. As a storyteller who acts as a medium between one community to another, the act of transmission is instrumental to conveying essence and meaning. For this island residency I am focusing on how to bridge the stories I have gathered from my island community of Hawai’i Nei to the community of Toronto.
On the 16th of March, I invite you to share the stories I have gathered over the past decade as I use this residency to prepare a book project entitled, Moemoeā. These stories will take the form of short documentary, photographs, and oral tradition. From one island to another, I hope to bring the warmth and spirit of my island home to this island.
About the Artist
Brendan George Ko is a visual storyteller that works in photography, video, installation, text, and sound based between Toronto and Maui. His work is about conveying a sense of experience through storytelling and describes the image as supplementary to the story it represents. In 2010, Ko received his BFA from Ontario College of Art & Design where he majored in photography, and in addition he practiced sculpture and curation. During his time in the Masters in Visual Arts programme at the University of Toronto his practice shifted into video and sound.
About Winter Island
Now in its fourth year, Winter Island is a unique, juried, artist-in-residence program aimed at emerging, established and, mid career artists, working in community engaged practice and hosted at Artscape Gibraltar Point, an artist residency located on the picturesque Toronto Islands.
The aim of the Winter Islands program is to recognize three – five artists annually who have demonstrated a strong and unique artistic voice while working in Canada’s visual arts community and provide them with a month of distraction-free studio time to create and/or develop a new and exciting community-engaged work, or body of work, that seeks to collaborate with and/or activate the artist community at Artscape Gibraltar Point and the Toronto Islands.
Selected artists will present these works/projects to the public, both during their residency and as a part of a Winter Islands Group Exhibition to take place at the conclusion of the residency series at Artscape Youngplace in late May/Early June 2019.
About Artscape Gibraltar Point
Located in the former Toronto Island Public and Natural Science School, Artscape Gibraltar Point offers 35,000 square feet of affordable retreat space, artist studios and accommodations for artists and creative thinkers. The tranquil, idyllic setting is world-renowned as a centre for members of the artistic and non-profit communities to think, experiment, collaborate and share ideas.
More than 700 artists a year from across the globe experiment and create art through self-directed artist retreats and thematic residencies hosted in our overnight accommodations. In addition to hosting a maximum of 20 visiting artists at any given time, fifteen long-term artist work studios provide space for a range of painters, sculptors, musicians, filmmakers and a recording studio – all of whom contribute to the unique and collaborative atmosphere at Artscape Gibraltar Point.
About Artscape
Artscape is a not-for-profit urban development organization that makes space for creativity and transforms communities. Artscape is the operator of Artscape Gibraltar Point. Our work involves clustering creative people together in real estate projects that serve the needs of the arts and cultural community and advance multiple public policy objectives, private development interests, community and neighbourhood aspirations and philanthropic missions.
For more information visit http://artscape.ca
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