I am drawn to what is alive
Really alive, The kind of alive like us, with
Strong emotion, desires, a will of its own, and the ability to act on its will.
Some call it free will
I paint that with free will
And I paint the ghost of it.
Drawn particularly to the remains of life, the cast offs of trees and plants, between stages of detritus and dirt, I exalt its life, its contribution to free will.
When it leaves one being and slowly turns into another.
Sometimes, I paint that there.

Rachel Aurora lives and works in her hometown of Claremont, New Hampshire. She studied Art and Ecology at Middlebury College (2018) and is currently pursuing education as an herbalist at the Gaia School of Medicine and Healing, Putney, VT. Her work has been shown at the STEAM Fest in Essex Junction, VT, at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Troy, NY and at the Copley Society of Art in Boston, MA.