Rachael first fell in love with photography at the age of ten, with a family friend who mentored her to value nature through the eye of the lens. She grew up in Canada, moving to Australia as a teenager where she later went on to study in the Glass Making Workshop at the Australian National University.
Her method of making includes first doing field-based research which includes meditating in nature, responding to her experiences in the landscape by sketching and documenting. Choosing specific local areas around her, Rachael will also respond to moments in mundane life.
The experiences of discovery, wonder or joy that Rachael finds in nature motivate her to create. As Allan Kaprow stated in his book, Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, “What if I were to think that art was just paying attention?” This resonates with the artist, as they find enlightenment in discovering, responding to and sharing the art around them every day in nature and their ordinary movements through life. Exploring these details encompasses the focus of her work; for example, in capturing the overlapping of images through the reflections of glass or the surface of water. The mediums Rachael works with range from glassmaking, video, photography, painting, mixed media and more in response to these moments that are as mundane as they are awe-inspiring; temporal yet sacred.
Rachael Brooke Art 