ARTWORK DETAILS

Rachel McRae The Gap State High School
My Normal Drawing
9 x graphite on paper sketches

ARTIST STATEMENT

Sometimes I feel like my family life is caged within a medical bubble. In this series of drawings pill capsules provided an opportunity to metaphorically represent my experience of feeling trapped inside medical uncertainty. I’m fascinated by the juxtaposition of perfection and sudden change in life, and I explored this through the contrast of bold words and soft pencil. My journey of creation and personal struggle has brought me to appreciate that everyone’s reality is their normal and everyone’s normal looks different.

ARTWORK PROCESS

This series stemmed from experimentation with a micro-photograph of a pill capsule overlaying instructions on my prescription medication. A transition of the representation to graphite mark-making created a softness, metaphorically representing the fragility and temporality of health. Words evoking memories regarding the nuances of life inside the medical bubble were assigned fonts that, to me, enhance the metaphor.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Rachel McRae

Rachel McRae grew up with a strong attachment to family and its importance. In her work she draws upon personal experience of sudden illness to explore her awakening – a shift to a clear sense of a ‘before’ and then ‘an after’. She examines this new reality as a way of grounding herself and maintaining her connection to family.

excellence