Rachel Goodyear

Referencing dreams, nightmares, the human psyche and traditional folklore, Rachel Goodyear creates intricate drawings that explore the macabre undertones of human existence. Within her most recent drawings on paper, in which she uses collage and surface stains of watercolour and ink, Goodyear focuses on the solitary female form. Her subjects are deeply focused, often engaged in bizarre ritualistic activities.

In both Hoops andDispersing, anonymous women are plucked out of history and time, and are introduced to their new realm and role within Goodyear’s work. In Dispersing,a woman’s portrait is intermittently blotted out with cloud-like marks that float in the dream-like pictorial space. Hoops reimagines the old game of hoopla – the figure of a willing (or unwilling) volunteer as a target. Yet these hoops hover, like they have a life of their own and surround her as a supernatural force or slipped halos.