chaco kato acknowledges the traditional owners of the land where she lives and works, the wurundjeri of the kulin nation. she pays her respects to elders past and present
about
Chaco Kato, currently based in Narrm/Melbourne Australia, is an interdisciplinary artist, engages with sculpture, drawing, installation, and community-based projects.
Collaboration and negotiation are important in her work. Kato's ambitious projects focus on reciprocity, weaving, and knotting, creating a space for dialogues with everyday materials. Influenced by bricolage aesthetics and spirit of Zen Punk, Kato embraces chaos and order. Drawing from her Japanese upbringing, she explores impermanence and change. Her work reflects a constant state of change and the significance of redefining space. Kato constantly engages with evolving environments, social situations, and new materials. She delves into social dynamics, psychology, and ecology. Recurring themes include metaphor of ‘wild grass’ or 'otherness’, communal interlacing, and practices like fermentation and composting. Kato challenges norms, bridges divides, and disrupts hierarchy using art as a political tool.
Her work ardently engages with the world, melding art seamlessly into everyday existence while instigating fresh perspectives and novel encounters with our surroundings.
Kato is also the founder member of Slow Art Collective (2009-), with Dylan Martorell, which focuses on sustainability, collaboration, and community by deploying DIY survivalist aesthetics.
works
Chaco creates large-scale art installations that often start with a single piece of string with the spirit of "zen punk."
Chaco is a leading artist of Slow Art Collective, known for interactive public art that questions our fast-paced world.
Chaco regularly runs eco-friendly workshops with everyday materials also organic plant-based materials for all ages.
Chaco also illustrates books with playful drawings, capturing wild and whimsical expressions.
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