Raquel’s paintings recall poems. The lines rhyme with one another, drawing closer and moving apart, with light passing between them. Poetry is present here, too—not only in Raquel’s connection to literature, but in the rhythm, repetition, and the way an image can remain open, like a poem we need not fully understand.

There is a great deal of movement in WAYS & WAVES. Waves, skies, fragments of light, and reflections—all resonate, appearing and disappearing within colour and rhythm.

Raquel has lived in many places, and much of her work emerges from the encounter between what she sees and what she remembers. She photographs moments in nature, but does not try to recreate them on canvas. She works from memory, from the light, colour, prayer, and sensations that remain. Each time, she searches for and finds a new way to express them.

Raquel’s works do not tell a single story. They move from place to place, between sight and memory, light and darkness, sound and silence. Like echoes, something of them continues to resonate even after we stop looking.

Ira Krokhmal, curator