Come As You Are, Rachael House

Through her diverse practice, which encompasses drawing and performance, House thoughtfully explores themes of gender and queerness with a personal and playful lens. The works create a vital space for reflection, empowerment, and inclusivity, echoing the crucial act of making visible narratives that are often marginalised. At a time when LGBTQIA+ communities face rising hostility, these pieces stand as urgent, defiant, and compassionate acts of presence.

Engaging with interconnected themes of collective joy, the complexities of aging, mental health narratives, and feminist perspectives, House’s ceramics and sculptural works often blend intricate patterns, humor, and serious messages, rendering them both decorative and deeply accessible, inviting viewers to find personal meaning and connection.

The platters and plates on display boldly re-imagine feminist and LGBTQIA+ potentials, drawing inspiration from Simone de Beauvoir’s assertion that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” and the queer reframing of a beloved line from The Railway Children. The Leather Flappers – sculptural bat-winged fists, stand as potent symbols of solidarity and the boundless nature of queerness, echoing the sentiment that “nothing is as queer as nature.” At the heart of the exhibition resides the tiled panel You Are Safe Here, functioning as both a heartfelt intention and a protective spell, affirming safety, belonging, and profound inclusivity – a powerful declaration for both the present and those yet to come.

About the Artist

Rachael House is a co-founder of Space Station Sixty-Five, a not-for-profit gallery and project space in South London. Her work has been recently exhibited at venues including the Whitechapel Gallery and Queer Britain. In recent years, her tiled panel Welcome Trans Queer Non-Binary Aliens entered the collection of the V&A (2023), and the Wellcome Collection acquired her book Resistance Sustenance Protection (2024), alongside her original sketchbooks containing the drawings for the publication. A recipient of the DYCP award, House is currently undertaking an AA2A residency at Buckinghamshire New University. Her publications include Crafted With Pride, Resistance Sustenance Protection, and Menopause—A Comic Treatment Anthology, among others.