Rachel Riggs’ New Solo Show Opens Soon!

Rachel Riggs’ new solo show Between the Devil & the Deep C opens on 11 December 2025, at 6 pm at Moores Building Art Space in Henry Street, Fremantle. It will run until 21 December.

Rachel is a multidisciplinary Fremantle artist whose practice spans painting, collage, assemblage, and installation. Originally trained at the Royal Central School in London, she worked extensively in theatre and television before turning her focus toward visual art. Between 2003 and 2009 she was an education artist with Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Tate Liverpool, leading community and youth programs.

Following a Master of Fine Arts in Site & Archive under the mentorship of Lubaina Himid CBE at the University of Central Lancashire (2010), she relocated to Australia, where she has developed participatory creative arts programs for children and families. Her current project, The HOME Program, connects children’s wellbeing to nature through art-making at The Wetlands Centre, Bibra Lake, with support from CITS WA.

Rachel says her upcoming exhibition is a very special exhibition of work inspired by the waters we live, work and play by, and by her Manchester/Maltese heritage of Cotton Mills, Mediterranean seas, folklore and superstition. A nice mix!

Between the Devil & the Deep C explores the relationship between gender and ecology to identify the symbolic links between the oppression of women and the degradation of the ocean.

Rachel explains that: ‘In a new series of female gaze collages and large scale assembled paper & object sculptures using up-cycled materials, the critical loss of the ocean’s health and our relationship is explored’.

A new large scale sculptural artwork the Madonna of the Bleached Corals was activated/puppeteered at Paddle for the Planet last Sunday, 30 November, before being shown in the exhibition.

Madonna of the Bleached Corals by Rachel Riggs

Rachel also says that, with support from the Conservation Council of WA, Jane Hammond’s film Corals Last Stand will form part of the exhibition

Rachel adds she is ‘privileged and excited’ to be collaborating with Rickeeta Walley on a new work, and a soundscape collaboration with Rebecca Riggs Bennett.

Tantalisingly, Rachel tells us there will be surprises, along with a % of sales on the night donated to local charities.

Rachel hasn’t received any public funding for her exhibition, so our support for it is important. See you there!

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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