About Me
Rachael is an artist currently studying Printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to obtain their BFA. Before studying at PAFA, Rachael received their Associate degree from the Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Raised in the greater Philadelphia area, they've been studying art since 2011. Their work is influenced by contemporary illustrators and artists such as J.A.W. Cooper, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Ki Kline, Soey Milk, and Allison Sommers; they also draw a lot of inspiration from comics and graphic novels like Deadly Class, Tokyo Ghost, and Paper Girls as well as the work of Junji Ito. Their most recent exhibition was at the 2nd Street Festival in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia. Their next exhibition will be at the 2020 Annual Student Exhibition at PAFA in May.
Artist Statement
I have a rational view of reality and a perceived view of reality; I am invested in distorting my perception of reality and creating something otherworldly as well as confronting my mental illness.
I developed trichotillomania at the age of 11, struggled with social anxiety at the start of middle school, suffered from extreme generalized anxiety after high school, experienced intense depression in my early twenties, and live with gender dysphoria. A lot of my time is spent in solitude, looking inward and reflecting on my existence as well as my influence; I am deeply inspired by my surroundings, immersing myself in outside environments. I seek to cut loose from my perceived view of reality and achieve a sense of inner stillness. Despite the daily obstacles I face from these disorders, I am intent on de-mystifying the stigma surrounding it through creating prints.
Though I am a printmaker, I incorporate illustration into the prints I make. I produce relief prints using linoleum, woodcut, eraser stamps, and collographs, as well as using etching and lithography. With those printmaking methods, I pursue control and intricate detail. I develop delicate and definitive imagery to share my experience and communicate my disordered thinking. In contrast, I surrender my desire for intense control to create monotype landscapes to generate worlds and places that do not exist on earth. All my prints hark back to a passionate love for drawing and illustration, focusing on flow, form, shape, movement, and composition.
I strive to communicate the personal experiences of my presence on the planet and to confront others will the realities of mental illness and the stigma surrounding it. My art contrasts the known and the unfamiliar in an attempt to get to know myself better through my prints. I allow myself to experience the deepness of my disorders through printmaking to help accept the constant transience of mental illness. I’m sharing a personal introspective experience with the viewer that may be contemplative and that may urge the viewer to question themselves or their reality. Overall I encourage honesty with one’s self and with others as a means of existing authentically.