Racquel Rowe
Artist Statement
Racquel Rowe is an interdisciplinary artist who works across various mediums. She considers performative action as a form of exploratory, open-ended research that is constantly evolving. Action and then causation are a common method of research for her; essentially working backwards. She is often compelled to do things and then spends a long time investigating and contextualizing what it is that possess her to do them. After a performance, rather than before she finds herself uncovering deep rooted memories of home that become stronger the more a performance is repeated.
Exploring the notion of compulsory visibility and subverting dominant ideologies, Rowe’s practice embraces the differences and similarities between the various Black experiences across the Diaspora. Engaging in critical conversations around race, migration, and colonialism, furthers her own ability to understand and break away from colonial representations. Rowe’s practice is largely influenced by her surroundings, for example being in Barbados for extended periods of time, allows her to expand into new environments, researching and performing within familial and community structures. What does it mean to live in a tourist destination? A place represented as an escape, a dream, not reality, and how does this effect its local population? And what does it mean to be exploring this in the middle of the Canadian winter, away from home. These are the questions Rowe is continuously grappling with.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2021 MFA University of Waterloo, Ontario Canada.
2019 BA Honours Studio Art and History, University of Guelph, Ontario Canada.
2015 Associates Degree Law, English Literature and History, Barbados Community College, St. Michael, Barbados
Selected Solo Exhibitions + Performances
(Including upcoming)
2022 Site Specific Performance, Scarborough Museum, Toronto, Ontario
2022 Multiple States of Being, Struts Gallery, Sackville, New Brunswick
2021 The Chicken Is Just Dead First, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario
2019 Sitophilia, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph Ontario
Selected Group Exhibitions + Performances
(including upcoming)
2021 Show. 21, Cambridge Art Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario
2021 Video Fever, screening, Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario
2021 InterAccess Vector Festival, Toronto, Ontario, virtual
2021 Temporary Collection, Ed Video Media Arts Center, Guelph ,Ontario
2021 Proud Deviants and Queer Multiples, Hamilton, Ontario
2021 WATBD x WNW Working Not Working, virtual exhibition
2021 Black History Month Blow Out, BLM Nogojiwanong, virtual
2020 Lumen @ Home, Lumen Festival, Waterloo, Ontario, virtual
2019 Group Performance with P*llory, Toronto, Ontario
2019 MFA First Year Show, The Artery, Waterloo, Ontario
2019 Group Performance, Through the Body/With the Body, Gallery La Centrale, Montreal, Quebec
2019 This idea was given to me by a thousand people (who are those people), Boarding House Gallery, Guelph Ontario
2018 JAS (Juried Art Show), Zavitz Gallery, Guelph Ontario
2019 Art Store, Zavitz Gallery, University of Guelph, Ontario
2019 Bonhomie, Zavitz Gallery and The Project Space, University of Guelph, Ontario
2018 Self Portrait, Zavitz Gallery, University of Guelph, Ontario
2018 Group Performance, Chimichurri, Zavitz Gallery, University of Guelph, Ontario
2018 Panty Dropper, Zavitz Gallery, University of Guelph, Ontario
2018 Group Show 1, Bunker2 x Black Artist Union, Toronto Ontario
2018 JAS (Juried Art Show) Top 10, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph Ontario
2018 JAS (Juried Art Show), Zavitz Gallery, Guelph Ontario
2017 Collective Memory, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph Ontario
Public Installations
2021 Untitled mural, commissioned by City of Waterloo, Uptown Parkade, Waterloo Ontario
2020 Remember To, Halls Lane, Waterloo ON https://www.cafka.org/summer-2020/racquel-rowe-remember
Selected Residences
2019 Through the Body / With the Body, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montreal Quebec
Press
2021 The Ontarion, https://issuu.com/ontarion/docs/190.1-artsissue_compressed
2018 The Ontarion, https://www.theontarion.com/2018/03/juried-art-show-celebrates-student-artists/
Publications
2021 Holly Timpenter, P*llOry, print.
2021 Carrie Perrault, The Artist Cookbook vol 2., print.
2021 Jenna Chase, How to Make a Queer Counter Public, print.
2019 Specialized Studio, This idea was given to me by a thousand people, University of Guelph, print.
2019 Racquel Rowe, editor. X-Rated Colouring Books for Adults. Rowe, print.
2018 Kaleidoscope Undergraduate Literary and Art Magazine, University of Guelph, Issue 12, print.
Professional Experience
2021 PXR BIPOC Fellowship, Single Thread Theatre Company, Vancouver
2021 Soul Pepper x Awakenings “A Revolution of Love” Mentorship Program, Soul Pepper Theatre Company, Toronto,
2021 Having Your Cake & Eating Me Too: An honest conversation about sex, identity, and race, with Madeleine Lychek, Sex Salon Series, Mark S. Bonham Center for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto (postponed due to censure)
2021 Fine Arts Chair Nominating Committee, University of Waterloo
2021 Having Your Cake & Eating Me Too, virtual sex salon hosted by Racquel Rowe & Madeleine Lychek
2019 Teaching Certificate, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo
2019 Zavitz Gallery Coordinator, School of Fine Art and Music, University of Guelph
2019 Gallery Co-coordinator, Fine Art Network, University of Guelph
2017 Guelph Young Artist Mentorship Program
Teaching + Research Positions
2021 Assistant Professor, Painting I, Intermediate Painting I, Drawing II, 1st Year Open Media, 3rd Year Seminar, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
2021 Teaching Assistant, The Art, Science & History of Colour, FINE 204/ INTEG 275 (Dr. Linda Carson), University of Waterloo
2020 Instructor, Appreciation & Expression Studio FINE 150, University of Waterloo
2020 Graduate Research Assistant, project Borderline: Mapping Urban Data, Jessica Thompson
2019 Teaching Assistant, Fine Arts, Studio Foundations, FINE 100 (Bruce Taylor), University of Waterloo,
Awards + Grants
2021 Sylvia Knight Award in Fine Arts
2021 ARTS Senate Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo
2020 Keith & Win Shantz International Research Scholarship, University of Waterloo
2019 Fine Arts Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo
2019 International Master’s Award of Excellence (IMAE), University of Waterloo
2019 Faculty Award, 51st Annual Juried Art Show, University of Guelph
2018 Dean’s Honour List, University of Guelph
2018 Jurors Prize, 50th Annual Juried Art Show, University of Guelph
2015 Scholarship for Excellence in English Literature, Barbados Community College