Rachel Speakman

Visual Art – Chicago

Rachel Speakman is a recent graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She primarily focuses on the animal form in ceramic sculpture and painting. She has also pursued environmental journalism through her recent travels to India, Alaska, and across North America. Speakman’s work aims to challenge our relationship to ‘nature’ and mental proximity to the animal. Her current research in new ecology, natural sciences, human-animal studies, and the ongoing issues we face in the Anthropocene help to inform her artistic practice. This is further influenced by her personal history with commercial fishing, working in fish hatcheries, studying marine biology and engaging in environmental activism.