Kokum, 2017. January 7th - February 18th, 2017. Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Kelwona, BC. 

Kokum is about Brittney Bear Hat's on-going exploration of relationships and the value they hold through storytelling, memory and traditions. With this body of work Bear Hat collects items that have been passed down to her from her Kokum (Grandmother in Cree). This specific relationship is unique to Bear Hat, she wasn’t able to connect with her Kokum until later in her adult life. Getting to know a part of herself that was so separate from her Blackfoot upbringing is what she wanted to focus on in this body of work. Bear Hat’s Kokum made her look deeper into the simplicity of receiving a gift and the significance that it can hold. Transforming these gifts into more, letting them become images on there own. Bear Hat wants to show the value of these gifts that are just ordinary household items and how they become so much more over time. They live in her home and are apart of Bear Hat’s daily life. Her Kokum was very hands on and showing her grandkids how to be in the outdoors. This is where Bear Hat’s stories start from, drawing from her own memories, she writes in black ink on the walls alongside with the family archive photos, and objects. Bear Hat is looking for that connection that brings all this elements together. Exploring these experiences and memories are what brings Bear Hat to understand what an image is and where it can go. Storytelling for Bear Hat is continually looking for the right time to tell the right story. It is an on-going practice for Bear Hat and Kokum pushes her to tell that story and gives her the right timing for these stories.