Luce Artist Talks presents Rachel Schmidt, whose exhibit, Forgotten Futures, tells the futuristic fairy tale of the last elephant. On Saturday, June 20th, Rachel will be in the Luce Foundation Center to talk about the exhibition, her other works, and the connections she sees between her work and artworks on view in Luce. Eye Level got the chance to talk with Rachel about her work and inspiration, and the vision she has for the future. Forgotten Futures is on view at Flashpoint Gallery through July 2nd. Luce Artist Talks are presented in collaboration with CulturalDC.
Eye Level: What about the future inspires your work?
Rachel Schmidt: Questioning the future and the shape it will take seems an integral part of being human, the question of what's next is always on everyone's mind. I find that making work based on futuristic cityscapes offers me an expansive platform to explore a variety of concepts, but since the collaged images I use are based on existing cities and places, I can create a stronger reality or believability.
EL: How do you go about creating the worlds you build?
RS: I day dream quite a bit, I like to look at the state of the world now and allow my imagination to run with scenarios and through that find stories and characters that enhance those realities. But it's also very personal, all of the collaged worlds are based on images that I've personally gathered, so there are textures, spaces, and motions that I have witnessed and felt.
EL: Why did you choose elephants as the focus for this installation?
RS: Elephants share many personality traits with people, they have strong societies and groups, they live a long time and have a natural sense of wisdom and grace. These traits allow the elephant in my exhibition to be a very strong protagonist in a larger story. They also just have an overwhelming power and inherent magic that makes them such strong characters.
EL: Why do you find animals to be a good vehicle for storytelling?
RS: Animals have been vehicles for storytelling for centuries, I am only a part of a long tradition that exists across most world cultures. Specific animals have very significant roles to play in most cultures, I think I am just tapping into a form of storytelling that is both ancient and playful at the same time.
EL: Many of your exhibitions feature different types of animation. How is the animation for Forgotten Futures different from your previous work, like Eastern Boats?
RS: Future Myth, the animation in Forgotten Futures, is my first step at utilizing time based media to generate an actual narrative. With my animation, Eastern Boats, I was reacting more to the fact that you have to loop a video when you exhibit it. I always found aspect of time-based media a hilarious but tragic Sisyphean function. So Eastern Boats plays more with the action of the loop rather than addressing linear concepts of storytelling. Boats have a special kind of power and magic, not that different from elephants. There is a graceful timelessness imbued with wooden boats, but they also have a specific kind of sadness that I think lends itself to my visual message.
