CuratorSpace Artist Bursary #18: Rachel Collier-Wilson

Rachel Collier-Wilson is a prolific, intuitive artist who has been practicing since graduating in 1990 from Central Saint Martins School of Art, London. They follow where their creativity takes them on the day; using sketching, linocut, mono printing, sewing and painting.

"My project aims to establish a new collective, Norwich Queer Contemporaries (NQC), to network with other Queer artists, supporting each other to develop and succeed in our artistic practice. Through the collective we can share our experiences of being othered and how we have overcome these through articulating our differing identities. I curated an exhibition for LGBTQIA+ History Month 2023 in a rented warehouse for the exhibition as part of a wider event I organised called Queer Fest Norwich. The focus of this exhibition was on creating an inclusive, validating space, and to highlight the work of queer artists in East Anglia to a wide audience.

For the exhibition, I made a series of drawings of hands addressing my non-binary lesbian identity, called 'Hands Where You Can See Them'. The resulting work is sculptural in nature constructed into a 'house of cards' using A4 plywood panels. By creating a house of cards, the instability of the structure reflects the instability of identity if that happens to be 'other'. Decisions, comments, actions can have profound impact and one’s confidence in just being and can just collapse. To rebuild takes strength and determination. The strength of a drawing is what is not drawn. We need a narrative. We need something to acknowledge we exist. Hands can mean so much, can do so much, or do too much, or not enough. These works will become part of an artists book containing prints and words associated with my research."

You can see more of Rachel's work on their website.

 

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