Rachel Siegel: Measure Up

First Friday Reception: Friday June 6^th, 6-8pm

“Measure Up is a body of photographic diptychs exploring the psychological and social implications of how we measure beauty and devastation. The clear-cut forest, at the Oregon coast, provides evidence of a hacked mother tree. Using color in a highly symbolic manner, a woman in red appears like a fresh wound. A reclining female-figure in a green dress juxtaposed with a light blue sky becomes the landscape and we become the voyeurs. How can our cultural representation of nature remain idealized, while the actual use and exploitation of natural resources plays out more brutally? The edge between innocence and knowledge are complicated like our own complacency and power. How do our representations of the feminine Measure Up to reality?”

Rachel Siegel lives in Portland, Oregon. She teaches photography for Portland Community College. She serves on the Portland Women in Art Lecture Series committee. Her artistic work includes photography, digital prints, artist’s books, video, and installation work. Rachel weaves together multiple interests, often using humor and playfulness to investigate issues that are significant to her, including body image, family, health and labor.