Photography by Laurie Neale

​Rachel is drawn to texture, layers and abrasions, elements that physically change the depth and force of a painting. 

Her newest series, titled "Now, Where is the Beginning and Where is the End?" feels like coming home to an intensity, a raw scraping, a manic state, a grating against the nerve. She wants people to feel the struggle and complexity in her work, and she wants them to know it is okay. 

Rachel relies on unconventional tools such as rocks, forks and dried plants to create marks and texture. She builds layers and peels them back, only to cover them up again. Each piece feels like the process of intensive therapy. Digging deep, discovering scary wounds, dissociating, coming back. Sometimes we learn a layer about ourselves, and under it is another layer. Sometimes, we cover up a wound that didn’t get enough light, that we quickly wanted to forget about so we rushed the healing. On the other side of this process, there is calm and acceptance. Light. Hope. An insane amount of love for self.