PENUMBRA WORKSPACE PROGRAM | RESIDENT | 2026
Rachel Guardiola
Image © Rachel Guardiola. Courtesy of the artist.
“Hybridity is a central motif expressed throughout my interdisciplinary studio practice. Most recently, I have been focusing on darkroom photomontage and 3D modeling to invent future hybrid beings and the non-anthropocentric ecologies to which they thrive. Through the process of culture jamming disparate content together, I play with arrangement to suggest layers of meaning. The cyborg, biomorph, creature creation are all allegorical amalgamations that defy binary mindsets, challenging systems that commodify bodies and the natural world.”
Rachel Guardiola is an interdisciplinary artist and naturalist with a studio practice that explores the human relationship to wilderness through lens-based technology. She has been a recipient of the Hamiltonian Gallery Artist Fellowship, Smithsonian Digital Archives Fellowship, and Studio Vortex Travel Grant. Guardiola has exhibited with The Halide Project, Ortega y Gasset Projects, The Sustainable Darkroom, Wassaic Project, National Aquarium, Center for the Holographic Arts, Light City Baltimore, School 33 Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (MoCA), List í Ljósi, Washington Project for the Arts, and Dakar Biennale de l'Art Contemporain amongst others. Guardiola has been an artist in residence at MASS MoCA, A.I.R. Gallery Governor's Island, HEIMA, Arctic Circle Art and Science Expedition, Vermont Studio Center, and Atelier de Visu. She has taught photography and related media at institutions including Rochester Institute of Technology, Flower City Arts Center, University of Colorado, Syracuse University, George Mason University, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design GW, Northern Virginia Community College, and 92nd Street Y Art Center. Guardiola received an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She served as an Environmental Education Extension Agent for the U.S. Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa and has lived and worked internationally.
SPONSORS
This program is supported by The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, The Joy of Giving Something, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, and the Lawrence Foundation.
