Mountain Whispers

 

 

I'm Jo Löki and I would love to get your support for a new project 'Mountain Whispers' 

I'm really interested in crowdfunding because I'm hoping that it will be an exciting way to connect to people and involve them in my storytelling process, and I'm intrigued to see what a different audience could bring to the kind of work that I do.  In the video above (which includes images) I explain the general gist of the project but there's additional information below.  At the bottom of the page there is a gallery of images and details on how to contact me.

 

What is 'Mountain Whispers' ?

'Mountain Whispers' is the working title for my new art project, taking place in Canada this October.  I've been invited for a four week residency at the renowned arts centre in Banff, to create a new piece of work.  Mountain Whispers is my new 'three-dimensional' story:  It's about an idealistic young woman from Victorian England, who arrives in Banff, Canada on the new transcontinental railway in 1888.  Beatrice was overwhelmed by an explosion of nature, one beyond her wildest imagination.  Armed with a newfangled camera ― and an unusually permissive husband ― she took to the 'wilds' exploring the landscape and gathering stories from locals about the mountains.  By reseaching the history of the town; collecting stories from the residents of Banff; creating new photographic works based on vintage style photography. I will contruct Beatrice's story through aged letters, diaries and drawings and a body of photography work that will look authentic to the period.  It will be as if Beatrice really existed and created a small but perfect creative legacy of her time.

 

About Me 

As a visual artist my work has been shown both nationally and internationally and features in collections such as The Victoria & Albert museum and The British Library.  I'm a primarily a visual artist but my work has a strong storytelling context.  I work across several mediums (including drawing, print, photography, text, bookmaking and multimedia) and I combine these to create three-dimensional stories.  For the most part, I do this by creating a character, an alter ego, who I send on a feasible but purely imagined adventure.  My alter ego's adventure is set within a particular time in history and it's the detailed research that provides the conceptual narrative or storyline.  However my invented character is usually inspired by some creative endeavour that both excites and consumes them.  This allows me to experience my own idea of time travel, in which I can be historian, explorer, storyteller and artist.  In essence, I create plausible stories and characters, who inhabit imaginary lives.  This can be best seen in my most recent exhibition 'Witchcraft & Romance' (2012) a story of a forgotten adventurer set in 1901.   I've attached some images below, but for full details please see my website. other projects can be found there under time-based stories.

 

Rewards

The money raised through your support is very important to me and will provide valuable funding for materials and archival photographic printing.  However, the most valuable aspect of crowdfunding is the interaction and involvement of supporters/backers.  For this reason, I've designed a selection of rewards that will offer you a piece of Beatrice's adventure and inspire you to embark on the journey with me.  As I've recently visited Banff and done some preliminary research, I've got a good idea of where my project is going, and this is reflected in the way I've designed the rewards. There were some examples of what these might look like in the video but where specified I will give a selection of images to choose from as it's very important to me that you're happy.  All supporters will be invited to a private online location (Beatrice's Salon) where she will exclusively update you about her adventure.

If you have any questions regarding this or any other aspect of Mountain Whispers, please contact me here.