Annie Rapstoff
Didcot, Oxfordshire
I am an artist, maker and researcher interested in responding to place, context and species.
I am a interdisciplinary artist interested in responding to place, context and species. My concerns include an interest in exploring relationships with other beings in the widest sense of the word, underpinning the work is an interest in the human condition and our relationship with the other. This includes animals, plants and trees. My work is driven by an interest in interconnection, ecological intelligence and empathy for others. In addition, I am influenced by animism and what is heard, felt, and experienced through the often unnoticed.
My practice includes performance, text, stitch, video, and whatever is appropriate in conceiving the work. I am involved in participatory, collaborative, process-based or ephemeral art, taking the form of instructions, events, performance for the camera, in situ, gestures, interventions, video and writing/language.
During the lock down, I began becoming interested in birds and spent time observing and reading about them. Parallel to this I was reading books on early pandemics such as the plague and the role of the Plague Doctor. I began to make masks, extending them into beaks; researching the possibilities of self-transformation and the interplay and impact on nature of human intervention. My recent research on birds focuses in particular on postures, behavior and myths concerning Magpies, Crows, The Albatross and The Cuckoo. This research has evolved to become my most recent body of work.
I studied Critical Fine Art at Central St Martins School of Art in London and went on to complete a Masters in Fine Art at Middlesex University. I have many years of experience of teaching, working with groups, including arts and non-arts based participants/audiences. In addition, I have also developed a mentoring and coaching practice, which has included working with artists across art forms and life experiences.
My work has been shown worked internationally and I have been in receipt of several Arts Council England grants for projects and curatorial events in The UK.
Become a member
We support our members with: insurance, networks, space, opportunities, R&D awards, profiling, advice and mentoring.
Become a member