Of all the artistic disciplines, perhaps the most closely linked are those of the poet and the painter.

Queer, male visual artist Tiko Kerr and Otoniya J. Otok Bitek, a celebrated black female poet have created in collaboration “if becomes when”, a series of 2D and 3D immersive conversations which consider issues related to seeing and being seen, the visible, invisible and hyper-visible, and memory and identity.

The foundational poem “if becomes when” developed over 2 years through a series of correspondences, sketches and meetings. The exchanges not only shared the same creative space but finally, the same physical form which was realized in The Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver’s most important downtown, indoor public gathering place in August of 2023.

Both artists have asserted that their collaborative process and the final installation expanded their practices far beyond (and deeper than) all expectation.

Chris Keatley

Director / Curator, The Pendulum Gallery

abridged by Tiko Kerr