Hannah Jickling + Reed H. Reed | Pinking Index

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Hannah Jickling + Reed H. Reed, "Pinking Index (installation view)," 2023

Courtesy of Kelowna Art Gallery, 2023.

Artists Hannah Jickling and Reed H. Reed employed garbage collected from school grounds to create a series of prints that can be seen in Pinking Index.

At first glance, it may seem odd, but it’s a natural progression for the artists. Jickling and Reed are the creative duo behind Big Rock Candy Mountain—an ongoing project with elementary school students that produces edible art editions. Part of these projects involved working with young students to develop the candy packaging and branding for the chocolate bars, chewing gum, and soda pop that their work resulted in.

Pinking Index continues this research and informative play by incorporating the materials leftover from these previous projects. The monoprints present an assortment of refuse gathered from schoolyards, while the collagraph print process removes all graphics and branding from the popular playground contraband.

Visitors will see twelve monoprints in bold colourful frames hung throughout the gallery space. Stretching across the walls of the exhibition are gigantic vinyl silhouettes of straws, shoelaces, popsicle sticks, pop can tabs, and various detritus. One of the prints titled Zig Zag Zillionaires will also travel to a selection of Kelowna area classrooms in the form of a limited-edition poster. This will provide a link to in-Gallery workshops and a starting point for projects that will spill out into the classrooms of local elementary schools.