Rachael Dickens
Rachael studied at Goldsmiths College in the late 1980s in Fine Art Textiles. She makes work using a wide variety of materials.
When Rachael moved to Herne Bay in 2015 she was forced to demolish the house she had bought. It was completely rotten! This challenge inspired an installation in the skeleton of the house called “SHIFT”.
To find out more about Rachael visit her website here and you can find her previous exhibitions here.
A collaboration with Viv Yankah it consisted of a series of photographs exploring Rachael's emotions connected to this unexpected house project. Rachael has worked a lot with Viv over the years, and a short film called "Dreamswim” was also shown in the dark interior of the condemned building. “Dreamswim” represented a huge body work, including film, ceramics and paintings, made in London which was inspired by cold water swimming in London Lidos.
Rachael’s work is nearly always a direct response to her surroundings and experiences…All year daily swims in the sea prompted a series of sea paintings and in 2019 she had a number of exhibitions which were responding to the refugee crisis. Pieces using found scraps of clothing sound scapes and little ceramic boats (whose seaworthiness was doubtful) emerged.
A portion of the profit from sales was given to KRAN (Kent Refugee Action Network) and the themes of belonging and hope explored in this work continued with ceramics and textiles.
We are delighted to have Rachael as part of our Contemporary Kent Artists exhibition at The Horsebridge Arts Gallery on the 8th - 20th of October 2025.
In 2021 Rachael moved to Greece for a year. On her return she exhibited a body of work previously unseen. The swimming continues and in July 2025 Rachael completed a channel relay swim. While training for this challenge she was considering female strength courage and creativity. A series of Goddesses emerged and were exhibited.
These figures led to an investigation of the male emotional landscape and her current work is absorbed with the notions of containment.