PA SYSTEM
Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson
PA System (Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson) work in textile, printmaking, painting, video, and public art. They create collaborative and socially-engaged projects namely in the high arctic, including their ongoing project with Inuit youth in Kinngait (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) called Embassy of Imagination.
Their work has been exhibited in institutions worldwide, such as the Royal Ontario Museum, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, University of New Mexico Art Gallery, Canada House in London and the Guanlan International Printmaking Base in China. In September 2019 they will be exhibiting their work in the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art.
PA System has been involved in the Kinngait community for six years spending three months at a time activating their Embassy of Imagination workshops or projects with the youth. They lead out-of-community projects with smaller groups of the youth annually. Their work as PA System is currently informed by the significant time spent in Kinngait, as documents of moments, memories and the land, and reflects on how they may address issues or aspirations identified by the youth, with the youth.
They have partnered with the District Education Authority of Kinngait to launch PPStudio (printmaking program) and Land and Cultural Leadership Program. Equipment funding for the latter program is received from the sales of the collaborative Future Snowmachines in Kinngait ongoing project.The Snowmachines have been exhibited in the AGO and as a large scale installation at The Bentway.
