“This exhibition is a summary of the last fifteen years of my work as an artist; mostly as a Second Life artist.” Bamboo Barnes says of her exhibition Ko Ko Ko Ko, which opened at Frank Atisso’s Artsville in Second Life on June 1st, 2026.
Occupying three sky platforms – one forming the entrance level and the other two the gallery levels, all linked via a teleport system which also connects back to Artsville’s ground level – this might be said to be something of a retrospective of Bamboo’s art, although I found myself looking on it more as an introspective celebration of her work.
That I use the term “introspective” with regards to Bamboo’s work should come as no surprise; her work is rich in both her use of colour and framing and in her ability to offer reflections of her inner self; reflections that very often chime with our own, becoming something personal to both artist and viewer.
“Celebration” is equally valid in that the pieces within the exhibition do reflect the many facets of Bamboo’s art; art which has developed and changed over the years whilst remaining indelibly Bamboo. In this it also celebrate the fact that many of these changes have caught Bamboo herself by surprise, as someone who acknowledges that in life, she is uncomfortable with change.
There were times when my work took unexpected turns. Maybe it was inevitable. I came to love those changes in my creative path — otherwise I would not have continued loving my own art.
Bamboo Barnes
Discomfort with change is also something that resonates in all of us. Few people like uncertainty in which the outcome cannot be foreseen; we’re often far more content to maintain the status quo. But without change we risk atrophy – and that is a state which cannot be applied to Bamboo’s art. It has grown and changed over the years, often in the most subtle of ways, each new experiment or turn of style adding to the sum total of her ability to express, to touch, to engage with us.
Bamboo notes that the term “ko” carries multiple meanings, whilst “koko” can mean “here”. I’m personally please that she is here in SL, quietly creating images and art, gently prompting us to consider who and where we are through the prism of her own self-reflection.
SLurl Details
- Ko Ko Ko Ko at Artsville (Isle of Thunder, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 