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.

Rachel Hakimian Emenaker

Dye on canvas (Batik) 
2024
Rachel Hakimian Emenaker's artistic practice and personal life have been shaped by navigating the tension and beauty that come when cultures and traditions collide. Bridging East and the West in a multicultural home, she is inspired by her Armenian-Syrian heritage, her American citizenship, and an upbringing in Suriname and Russia that immersed her in conflicting narratives, aesthetics, and histories. 
In her batiks, she explores diaspora through architecture in recreated spaces. The batik practice that she uses stems from her childhood in Suriname, a former Dutch colony. In the 19th century, Dutch colonizers brought Javanese indentured laborers to Suriname, along with their culture and artistic practices.

Description

With a certificate of authenticity signed by the Artist.

Authentication

6.Untitled (Los Angeles), Batik_dye on canvas, 70” x 156”, 2024

LA-Crop

Textile

Installation

Painting

Untitled (Los Angeles)

5.Untitled (Yerevan), Batik_dye on canvas, 70” x 156”, 2024 (1)

5.Untitled (Yerevan), Batik_dye on canvas, 70” x 156”, 2024 copy

4.Inside Installation, Within a Diasporic Architecture, Batik_dye on canvas, hanging frame, 70” x 156”, x 156”, 2024

Untitled (Yerevan)

Crystal glazed porcelain on rope 
2024
As part of her most recent series of work, and her most personal, 100 Prayers: 100 Fists is an installation of monumental beads reminiscent of prayer beads, that are hanging from a sturdy rock climbing rope. Fired multiple times, each fist-size porcelain bead juggles between strength and vulnerability. The shadows the beads cast are like a spine, perhaps the artist’s own way of centering back her practice to herself and to her body.

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Rachel Hakimian Emenaker

Also by Rachel Hakimian Emenaker

Untitled (Los Angeles)

Untitled (Yerevan)

100 Prayers: 100 Fists