We’re delighted to launch Stories on CAN—a space for artists and makers to share how materials or resources claimed through CAN have been transformed into artworks or craft. With this new feature, we’re celebrating creativity, sustainability, and the journey of reinvention.

To mark the launch, we’re thrilled to feature the work of Josie KO, a Glasgow-based artist who has built an acclaimed practice centered around challenging norms and reimagining the Black female body through bold, tactile, and unapologetically handmade sculptures.

Using untraditional materials like papier-mâché, glitter, and found objects, Josie creates sculptures that reject the relegated status of these mediums in the art world. Her work celebrates the handmade, embraces irregularity, and counters the erasure of Black women in art history. By embedding elements of her own identity into her creations, Josie empowers her figures to communicate narratives of intersectionality and her lived experiences as a Black British woman.

Featured Works:

• Fir Gorma, 2024, Glasgow International (with Kialy Thingang), photographed by Eoin Carey.
• Rainbows are Portals into Utopian Belongings, 2024, Govan Project Space, photographed by Matthew Barnes.
• Lady in Blue, 2023, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
• Let’s Get Lost Tonight you can be my Black Kate Moss Tonight, 2022, Generator Project, Dundee, photographed by Ben Douglas.

Josie KO’s practice exemplifies the possibilities of materials and objects that others might discard, reminding us that art and innovation can arise from anywhere.

We invite you to explore Stories on CAN and encourage you to share your own. Whether you’ve upcycled an item, created a sculpture, or made something entirely new from CAN resources, we’d love to celebrate your journey.

Share your own story today!