Rachel Mcalister-Wober
BA (Hons) Fine Art
My work discusses ideas of femininity and horror as explored though traditional craft techniques such as crochet and beading. By combining historically female fronted craft with male lead horror troupes, I explore how gender-based biases warp our perception of these topics. Craft is often dismissed as ‘woman’s-work’, not taken serious as a real form of art. I aim to reclaim these ideas, whilst also poking fun and carrying them forward with more modern approaches. Taking inspiration from films such as Psycho, Scream and Halloween, my work sits in the world of the slasher, critiquing the long line of male killers and female victims. Through creating gore with familial materials, I am trying to take away the power that horror holds over female bodies. I aim to draw the viewer into the work by creating striking images that require the viewer to look closer to be fully understood. When the audience sees the sculptural ‘props’, any illusion of true violence is stripped away, and the more playful side of the work revealed.
