Haruko Okano. Community Participatory Public Art 6

2008 Flesh Mapping, Vancouver Markets Pacific Women Flesh Mapping, Vancouver Markets Pacific Women, 2008
Medium: Mixed medium on bedsheets Size: Queen Size sheets created in collaboration with up to 60 women
Flesh Mapping, Vancouver Markets Pacific Women was a project that paid 3 artists to work with various women’s groups whose political, social purpose was the support of women and protest against violence against women & children. The example images are just a few of the interactive sheets that were exhibited at Gallery Gachet in Vancouver as part of a larger conference that drew speakers representing women’s support groups from 10 other countries to talk about the situation in their home countries while discussing what issues were coming to the forefront for each group. Vancouver and Toronto are currently trying through the courts, to decriminalize prostitution in Canada.

Note: please note the work about Indian reservations, reservations and residential schools along with the image of trash cans are by members of Vancouver Rape Relief. The Xpals sheet is done by a member of the ex-prostutes group and the other two sheets are by me.
2009 All Fall Down All Fall Down, 2009
Medium: Mixed medium, viewer interactive installation Dimensions: 4’W x 4’L x 12’-27’H
This is an installation using rubbings of poplar trees felled at Crag Lake, Yukon Territories. Yukoners were invited to respond to the question “Why do you live here? What are your concerns? The tallest tree can extend up to 27 feet high. Eye holes are cut where branches would have been and by looking through them you can see a silhouette of an animal common to the Yukon. This installation is designed to continue collecting responses by the visitors in what ever location it is exhibited in.

Galleria Copyright (C) 2008 David Hellsing _ © Copyright Haruko Okano 2011