About Rachel

Baltimore City
Bio:
Rachel Guardiola is an interdisciplinary artist and naturalist. Her studio practice investigates the intersection of art, science, and technology with a focus on the human relationship to wilderness through lens based analog and digital media. Rachel has exhibited internationally with List í Ljósi, The Halide Project, Rhizome DC, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Wassaic Project, Analog Cookbook, Dakar Biennale de l’Art Contemporain, Sydney College of the Arts, Light City Baltimore,… more

VEGA Project Bio-MYNE

2016. Installation, video performance from live stream. 4 min. 32 sec. 
This performance was originally presented as a one hour live stream from a remote location. The performance includes rituals and horticultural activities conducted by Madam VEGA, cyborg and bio-pirate belonging to an ongoing fictional narrative on an other earth planet.


  • VEGA Project Bio-MYNE
    2016. installation, video performance from live stream. 4 min. 32 sec.
  • VEGA Project Bio-MYNE
    VEGA Project Bio-MYNE
    2016. installation shot
  • VEGA Project Bio-MYNE
    VEGA Project Bio-MYNE
    2016. video still of live stream performance

Mementos

  • Mementos of an Investigator
    Mementos of an Investigator
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Mementos of an Investigator
    Mementos of an Investigator
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Mementos of an Investigator
    Mementos of an Investigator
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print) 20 x 24"
  • Mementos of VEGA
    Mementos of VEGA
    2019. diptych; unique chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24" each
  • Mementos of VEGA
    Mementos of VEGA
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Mementos of VEGA
    Mementos of VEGA
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Mementos of VEGA
    Mementos of VEGA
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
  • Mementos of VEGA
    Mementos of VEGA
    2019. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"

Other Earth Archives

2018-present. archival pigment prints. 20 x 24”. Works in Progress
An archivist from the future excavates artifacts from an alternate planet. The archivist pieces together visual content presented as arrangements in trompe l’oeil view that reveal the ecology, inhabitants, behaviors, and physical laws that govern terrain free of human presence. The edition is an ongoing archeology constructed through surrealistic photo montage techniques that combine film, digital negatives, object, text, photogram, and scientific vernacular into fantastical compositions that tell a history of the an alternate terrain, metaphor for explorations between biology and gender politics. 
  • Other Earth Archives
    Other Earth Archives
  • Other Earth Archives
    Other Earth Archives
  • Other Earth Archives
    Other Earth Archives
  • Other Earth Archives
    Other Earth Archives

A Hand Without a Horizon is Taller than its Other

2016-17. 8 mm film digitized, performance. 3 min. 55 sec. 
A Hand Without a Horizon is Taller than its Other is a film compiled from footage captured while exploring on foot the Arctic Circle. The film follows the discoveries of a time traveling investigator as they explore an unknown planet, utilizing the lens to switch between first person perspective and that of an objective onlooker observing the desolate panoramic landscape. The film is digitized and displayed on a CRT television alongside an edition of photographic prints that explore the sites in the film. 
  • A Hand Without a Horizon is Taller than its Other
    2016-17. 8 mm film. 3 min. 55 sec
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. diptych; unique silver gelatin prints. 20 x 24" each
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. unique silver gelatin print. 8 x 10"
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. unique silver gelatin print. 8 x 10"
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. unique silver gelatin print. 8 x 10"
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. unique silver gelatin print. 11 x 14"
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. unique silver gelatin print. 11 x 14"
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. diptych; unique silver gelatin print. 4' x 6'
  • Untitled (WIP)
    Untitled (WIP)
    2019. diptych; unique silver gelatin prints. 4' x 6'

The Adventures of the Investigator & Madam VEGA

2016-present. video performance series 
From October 2016 to January 2017, I conducted a four month stint of travel in the Arctic Circle during the period of darkness, when the sun sinks below the horizon. During this time, I wandered remote landscapes where I began to develop a fantastical narrative. The video performances exhibit different time traveling characters that explore an alternate planetary environment prompted by sensorial responses to the environment that occurred during the act of physical exploration. Characters perform different activities based upon their own specialized mode of understanding the universe through sense and logic. Since the initial visit, I have returned and continue to work at specific sites on this ongoing project. 


  • Measuring a Mountain
    2016-17. video performance. 1 min. 33 sec.
  • Testing the Vibrations of Water
    2016-17. video performance. 3 min. 24 sec. guest performance by artist Kristín Sigurðardóttir
  • Snow Swimming, Navigating Fallen Sky
    2016-17. video performance. 40 sec.
  • The Distance of Water
    2016-17. video performance. 58 sec.
  • Madam VEGA's Cabbage Patch
    2016-17. video performance. 1 min. 48 sec. code: 4883
  • Measuring the Gait of the Lost 'Arctodus simus'
    Measuring the Gait of the Lost 'Arctodus simus'
    video performance still
  • Echolocations of an Ancient Sea
    Echolocations of an Ancient Sea
    video performance still
  • VEGA Infiltrates Leftover Lab Part I
    VEGA Infiltrates Leftover Lab Part I
    video performance still
  • VEGA Infiltrates Leftover Lab Part II
    VEGA Infiltrates Leftover Lab Part II
    video performance still
  • Excavating the Golden Ribs
    Excavating the Golden Ribs
    video performance still

Cryptoflora Viewing Boxes + Archeologies of VEGA's Garden

2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species
Four viewing stations offer glimpses into the propagation room and workstation of Madam VEGA. The videos are made barely accessible and are positioned at different heights to give off the feeling of observing something hidden, or peering at acts done in secrecy. Aromas of fantastical plants subject to experimentation can be smelled from within. 

2018. chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24” 
These images display horticultural glimpses of various flora in Madam VEGA’s garden. The images are made by transforming a living greenhouse set into views of an otherworldly forest through multiple exposure, additive color mixing, and experimental color darkroom processes. Madam VEGA is a horticultural pirate and keeper of a hidden garden where she is re-propagating extinct species on a desolate planet. 

(works exhibited together)
  • How to Pollinate a Hybrid
    How to Pollinate a Hybrid
    2017. video, viewing box, oils extracted from various native and plant species. 39 x 15 x 15"
  • Cryptoflora Viewing Boxes
    Cryptoflora Viewing Boxes
    Petri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower Somniferic spuomel var. officinalis Common Name: Sleepy Spitting Honey Flower 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 60 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/250699298 Artificial Hybridization Survival Techniques Nigellapiper chitin Common Name: Exoskeletal Fat Pepper Plant 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 48 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/252271397 Assisting an Asexually Reproducing Plant Nymphaea hermamusa Common Name: Spotted Epicenic Water Lily 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 36 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/256592091 photography courtesy of Arlington Arts Center
  • Petri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower
    Petri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower
    (detail) Petri Germination Methods for an Extinct Flower Somniferic spuomel var. officinalis Common Name: Sleepy Spitting Honey Flower 2017-18. video, viewing boxes, oils extracted from various plant species. 60 x 15 x 15" Video: https://vimeo.com/250699298
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. diptych; unique chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24" each
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"
  • Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    Archaeologies from VEGA's Garden
    2018. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 20 x 24"

Other Earths

2014-16. chromogenic color prints. dimensions variable
Other Earths is a collection of photography functioning as artifacts that explore an ambiguous future past universe. Color negative, non-camera, and experimental darkroom processes combine different imagery into invented compositions of other planetary landscapes. 
  • Figure 32
    Figure 32
    2014. diptych; archival pigment prints. 24 x 30" each
  • Specimen #2518
    Specimen #2518
    2014. archival pigment print. 27 1/2 x 40"
  • Terrain IV
    Terrain IV
    2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
  • Terrain V
    Terrain V
    2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
  • Terrain VI
    Terrain VI
    2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
  • Terrain X
    Terrain X
    2014. archival pigment print. 24 x 30"
  • Terrain IX
    Terrain IX
    2014. archival pigment print. 24 x 30"
  • Terrain VII
    Terrain VII
    2014. unique chromogenic color print (darkroom print). 8 x 10"
  • Terrain I & II
    Terrain I & II
    2016. diptych; unique chromogenic color prints (darkroom prints). 20 x 24" each
  • Figure. 33
    Figure. 33
    2014. archival pigment print. 30 x 30"

Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)

2015. 16 mm film, video, projection, hand cranked optical soundtrack, vitrines, objects. 5 min. 30 sec.

The projection is adapted to the architecture of each site to create an immersive environment. 
The projection is presented with objects and text that function as signifiers to the landscape in the film. The objects in vitrines are situated between the projection source and wall to obstruct the pathway of light. As a result silhouettes are cast upon the projection and imagery from the projection is dispersed around the space to create an environment for the narrative to be experienced. The work at large is activated by the viewer as they physically navigate and piece together clues that unfold the history. The physical act of exploration plays a significant role in my practice, utilizing the mechanical functions of the camera to mimic the means in which the body relates to its environment. The perspective, sequence, and rhythm in which technology is used, relates back to a reference point of the universal onlooker navigating an future past topography.  
 
  • Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. 16 mm film, video, projection, hand cranked optical soundtrack, vitrines, objects. 5 min. 30 sec.
  • Intro the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Intro the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. installation shot KAGRO
  • Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. installation shot KAGRO
  • Intro the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Intro the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. installation shot KAGRO
  • Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2016. installation shot Light City Baltimore National Aquarium
  • Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. 16 mm film still
  • Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. 16 mm film still
  • Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    Into the Zone (Anthology of Accounts & Findings)
    2015. 16 mm film still

Isle of Caprona

2014. 16 mm film. 3 min. 39 sec.

This full length film contains original and appropriated 16 mm film that is spliced together and treated with a variety of mark-making, paint, and alternative darkroom chemistry. The camera presents a first person perspective of the alien other examining a fantastical landscape neither before or after human civilization. Inspired by the novel The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Caprona is identified as a lost island where every stage of evolution occurs at once. Analog formats are used based upon my interest in the transformation of substances, and ability for them to reference shifting periods of time; materials that reference the past, while also holding a possibility to withstand digital remnants in the future. 
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film stills
  • Isle of Caprona
    2014. 16 mm film
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still
  • Isle of Caprona
    Isle of Caprona
    2014.16 mm film still