Rachelchristinaarchive

RACHEL CHARLES
rachelcharles03@gmail.com
@rachelchristina

Rachel Charles is a 21-year-old Baltimore native, Boston-based multimedia designer, writer, and creative. Her work is driven by interrogating the self and the cultural past through the archive. Spanning from print to digital work, Rachel’s works are in conversation with historical and cultural artifacts, stories, art, and media. Her work aims to place the internal and external archive in the contemporary.

Born to two immigrant parents and deeply immersed in the East African diaspora, Rachel brings her cultural background to her creative work through collection and self-reflection. Many familiar oral stories are the inspiration for her work, which engages with environment and place. Born and raised in Baltimore city, Rachel was first introduced to art environments that centered black and brown voices and stories, her works reflect modes of art making in tandem with blackness and culture. Rachel recontextualizes archived works into digital and print modes of storytelling, including interactive websites, zines, prints, video, podcast, etc.

One of Rachel’s works, Emulating Francessca Woodman, takes archived photography by Francessca Woodman and emulates it through a contemporary photography lens. Taking Woodman’s Untitled and Angel series, Rachel interrogates these archives and the biography of Francessca Woodman, delving into themes of female autonomy. Rachel’s written work continues themes of female and self autonomy, including narrative nonfiction interacting with place, immigration, and selfhood. In all mediums, Rachel aims to expand and challenge the canonical archive through a contemporary lens.

Rachel is a young working creative who plans to expand her forms of artistic expression across mediums. In the digital sphere, Rachel will continue to challenge the archive through video, podcast, and photography. Her work is grounded in community, and diverse community engagement will always be the function of her creative work. Art spaces and formal creative environments have historically had strict barriers to entry in what's displayed and discussed, seldom bolstering work for and from mass audiences. Rachel’s philosophy towards her work is access and uncovering underrepresented artifacts for art audiences. Art is for everyone, and when it is not treated as such oftentimes it's boring.