Hitoko Okada is a queer, Nikkei interdisciplinary artist based in Hamilton, Ontario. Their professional practice has evolved across fashion, theatre, installation and curatorial projects, as interconnected research on ancestral heritage textile plants for speculative ancient-futures in a changing world. Okada obtained an MFA at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, and has deepened their practice through several national and international artist residencies including Haystack Mountain School of Craft, in Maine, USA, Banff Centre for the Arts, in Alberta, Canada, and Kawashima Textile School in Kyoto, Japan. Okada’s projects have been presented throughout Southern Ontario including Cambridge Arts Galleries, Art Gallery of Burlington, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, Craft Ontario, The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, and recently, with Theatre Replacement in Vancouver. They have received multiple grants, and awards including Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Hamilton City Arts Award. They are seasonal volunteer at Backyard Harvest Urban Organic Farms in Hamilton, Ontario as a practice of continuous learning and community care.