Associate Professor Rachel Anderson teamed up with artist Sarah Fisher to create an exhibit that will share an inspirational message throughout the fall semester.
Rachel Anderson, associate professor of apparel design and manufacturing, and Texas artist Sarah Fisher met by chance in 2018 at Charles Adams Studio Project in Lubbock. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Anderson and Fisher remained in touch and worked on a deeply personal collaborative art exhibit that is now showcased on the Texas Tech University campus.
“You Can Write Your Own Autobiography” features a sculptural yellow, stickered mannequin and coat that illustrates the artists’ combined reflection on their respective journeys toward mindfulness, authenticity and positive, empowered mental health. Exhibited against a colorful backdrop of Fisher’s ongoing series of handprinted, used grocery and shopping bags, the mixed-media sculpture expresses the artists’ shared mission for themselves and others to challenge what pulls at them, find emotional and physical balance, think more clearly, self-advocate and reach toward the light of self-compassion, freedom and joy.
Anderson believes this temporary public art and fashion exhibition can remove the stigma around mental health when the images and words are contemplated.
“What are the words and things you mentally and emotionally carry with you every day? How have words labeled, stifled, confused, hurt or angered you? How do you repair and recover? What do you need as a human being?” Anderson challenges viewers to ask themselves. “Open the conversation and be OK with different points of view. The exhibit is meant to have you question things around you, help people find their voices, challenge the societal rules of expectation, strengthen identities and find resolution.”
The display will remain in the Canyon Room of the College of Health & Human Sciences throughout the fall semester. To learn more about the piece and view additional work from the artists, visit rachelandersonfashion.art and sarahfisherart.com.