cow from memory at Queen’s Street Studios concludes Rachel Wharton’s Freelands Fellowship at Belfast School of Art.

The exhibition brings together works which dwell on a multitude of themes and locations. Deer parks, bread vans, accidental pilgrimages and rocks in a field offer the opportunity for humour, speculation and familiarity. The exhibition functions as a pinch point between the introspection of the studio and the expansiveness of a new locale.

A publication, Half Tester, will be available on the opening night, named after the style of bed Rachel occupied while living on Deer Park Road in North Belfast. It comprises written contributions from friends made during her time in Belfast. Each piece of writing expands on shared areas of interest between Rachel and the contributors. 

The exhibition is kindly supported by the Freelands Foundation, QSS and Belfast School of Art. Special thanks to Louise Wallace and Dougal McKenzie for their support in realising this exhibition.

Artist Biography

Rachel Wharton is an artist who uses coincidence, anti-climax and humour to investigate the stories of local places through her work. Continuously questioning why things are the way they are, in the hope of conjuring a moment of happenstance which can then be unravelled across her work. This could take the form of drawing inventories, with symbols that narrate a visual inquiry or paintings that are beckoning and haphazard, like the tangential rabbit holes her research leads her down.

Rachel completed an BA Fine Art (Hons) in Painting at Edinburgh College of Art in 2018. She graduated in MFA Painting at Manchester School of Art in 2022 and most recently completed the 2024-2025 Freeland’s Fellowship at Belfast School of Art.

In 2021-2023 alongside artists Katie Evans and Mikey Thomas, she programmed a series of 10 exhibitions across multiple venues in Manchester focussing on local artists who were exploring the intersection of Art and Writing.