Netherlands artist, Desiree Palmen, will be travelling to Vancouver in July to work with urban Native  youth to explore their experiences and feelings in relation to Vancouver’s landscape. The project will be titled, MAMOOK IPSOOT (chinook translation: To Hide/Make Hidden). The artist will spend 3 weeks working with youth to paint them into a chosen place in Vancouver. These on-site painting projects will be photo-documented and these images will be publicly displayed in various locations within Vancouver by the fall.

Specific dates for the workshop are:

Palmen has a history of working with youth who reside in areas where their connection to the land is extremely important to them culturally and historically. Check out the youth project, Hide & Seek, from Istanbul here: http://www.desireepalmen.nl/hideandseek.php

Part of the project will occur indoors, in the amenities room located next to grunt gallery’s facility. The other part will occur outdoors at a location chosen by each participating youth. The youth will wear clothing that will be painted upon, to help camouflage them into the area they have chosen. The artist has requested that youth have a pair of white cotton trousers and a white cotton long-sleeved shirt and some type of headgear that can be used to paint on. The clothing should be loose fitting so that the youth can pull it over the regular clothing they are wearing.

grunt is looking for 8 Native youth artists who are between the ages of 11-15 who reside in Vancouver, BC.

grunt wants to ensure that the participating youth have an interest in the arts as this is an incredible opportunity to work with an international artist. Participants will be paid an artists’ honorarium for their work and commitment to the project.

The camouflaged painting scenes will be photographed and video documented (there will be a 10-minute video created on the project that will be shown during its launch date in the Fall – Sept/Oct). This is an exciting opportunity for young artists to work with an experienced, international artist and have their work exposed to a number of diverse audiences. The images produced from this project will be shown in advertising spots across Vancouver, including those located in bus shelters and more.

If you know of a youth that is interested in this project, please ask their parent/guardian to email, Karlene Harvey at karlene@grunt.ca

View the PDF document

Help make this project a success! Donate to grunt gallery: