Spotlight Artist

Rachel de Cuba

South
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Featured in New American Paintings

Artist Statement

 In interdisciplinary work using digitally and physically manipulated materials, I seek to pull back a veil on power structures, migration, and gender roles. Creating work focusing on the power of softness and the memorable qualities of delicate objects, I question the structures of memorialization. While the digitally developed materials look to surrealist storytelling approaches, the physical materials explore the abstractions of storytelling within a family heritage. Engaging every sense within a work, I look to recreate a living extension of myself, birthing work to create dialogue. If a structure is a tool for dividing the private and the public, then how does one account for the political? At what point does the personal become political in the context of home? What does it mean when objects hold more power than a person from beyond a border wall? Can a wall divide a space as well as a landmass as well as a continent? When does the wall become a border? Can a house stand as a rallying cry? Can a quilt protest?

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