RACHEL HALLAS
Abstract 3, mixed media, 42" x 40"

Rachel says this about her work: "Everything I use in my work I have purchased at local thrift stores or found at abandoned houses through out the years.  The images in my pieces do not belong to me, they are artifacts of others' lives.  I have always been drawn to personal objects left behind for public viewing.  There is a sense of voyeurism and nostalgia in finding such things.  I find others knickknacks to be precious and haunting.  In certain ways, I want to project my self onto them.  I am compelled to understand why such things are kept, and why eventually they are given up.  I am a collector who collects other people's memories, although memory lacks certainty.  When we leave, or move, or just clean out our lives, we leave things behind.  I love nostalgia and the way it tricks you."