Rachel Hakimian Emenaker

Born in 1992 in Los Angeles, Rachel Hakimian Emenaker's artistic practice tells the story of diasporic cultures. With an Armenian-Syrian heritage, an American citizenship, and an upbringing in Suriname and Russia, she immersed herself in conflicting narratives, aesthetics and histories. Through art, she explores architecture and space as a vessel for collective memory. Her painted installations across mediums, from batik fabrics to stacked ceramics and monumental beadwork, combine traditional Eastern and Western artistic traditions with craft practices. Each of her artwork reflects on the history of global trade routes and recreates symbolic spaces, in which erasure of collective memory and experience of migration collide. A recent graduate of UCLA’s MFA program, Rachel Hakimian Emenaker has shown her works in solo and group exhibitions including in the 25 under 25 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. Most recently, she was the recipient of the Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship and her works have been acquired by prominent collections.