Rachel Kessler

About Rachel

I am a writer, artist and multidisciplinary collaborator from dᶻidᶻəlalič. Experimenting with boundary-breaking performance art, installation and video, I co-founded interactive poetry collaborations Typing Explosion and Vis-à-Vis Society, and art collective Wa Na Wari, a residential reclamation project centering Black art and media in Seattle's Central District. My work is deeply rooted in place: my public art pillar representing the Central District’s Jewish history will be installed on the street my ancestors immigrated to, lived and died on. As artist-in-residence at public housing project Yesler Terrace (my great- grandparents’ home) community members and I activated a vacant apartment slated for demolition with VR, live music, storytelling, potlucks, dancing, karaoke and collective murals. My illustrations of the PNW urban shore feature in Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry. I am currently working on a children’s book about abortion with SYA.

Pronouns

she/her/hers

Qualifications

BA, Creative Writing and English Literature
University of Washington