RACHEL SMITH ARTIST & PRINTMAKER
hand carved hand printed linocuts

Objects and what they represent are a major part of my work.  I examine their position as conduits of meaning and vehicles for storytelling, objects that hold memories and emotion, and take on positions of elevation and importance in our lives. I notice that meaning is not fixed, it varies, between people, contexts, and over time and I am intrigued by how the object itself is so much more than ‘a thing’, with its own presence, its own identity, its own agency and place.  And I am now taking these observations forward into an exploration of prehistory, to those objects that lie silent in the landscape and act as the gatekeepers of their own unknowable stories. My work attempts to enter into a narrative with these objects and their caretaker landscape as a process of knowledge recovery, of lost wisdom, with the potential to form connections and find commonality with our ancient ancestors. Through a practice that uses printmaking as process I seek to explore these unknowable stories through texture and form to discover new perspectives and ways of thinking about what and who has gone before.