BIO
Rachel is a lens-based artist based in Malton, North Yorkshire. Her practice examines human kinship with the land, the sea, and the sky.
Trained as a photojournalist, Rachel continues to undertake commissioned work alongside her conceptual practice, working across digital and experimental analogue photography, performance, moving image and sound. In recent years, her approach has become increasingly interdisciplinary and performative, creating space for embodied experience and sensory engagement.
Rachel holds an MA in Photography with Distinction from Falmouth University and my work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She was a winner of Portrait of Britain (2020) and a finalist in The Guardian’s Women Behind the Lens; shortlisted for RPS IPE165, Belfast Photo Festival (2022), and Photo North Emerging Artist (2023); and published in Stir The Pot, Portrait of Britain Vol. 3, and Rankin’s This Is Britain.
She is the founder of Ryedale Film&Photo Fest and lectures in Photography at York College & University Centre. Prior to returning to her creative practice, Rachel worked as a journalist, editor, PR and communications professional at a senior level.
exhibitions
June -August 2026 – A Solitude of Being – Ryedale Film&Photo Fest
June 2026 – Remedy Festival, Lincoln (group)
June 2026 – How Pleasant To Go To A Friend On A Visit – Humber Street Gallery (group)
March – June 2026 – Terra Incognita: On This Land | In This Land | Of This Land – Dalby Forest
May 2025 – Traces – Helmsley Arts Centre
March 2025 – Lies A Calm Along The Deep – Scarborough Film Festival
February – March 2025 – OPO Open – Old Parcels Office Scarborough (group)
February – March 2025 – Slippery Slopes – Mandy Apple Collective, Scarborough (Group)
February- March 2025 – The River Project – Dalby Forest Courtyard (commissioned collaboration with Sue Walsh and Cecilia Tyrell)
December 2024 – The River Rye Project – Ampleforth Abbey (commissioned collaboration with Sue Walsh and Cecilia Tyrell)
July 2024-July 2025 – Dalby Forest Sculpture Trail – Dalby Forest (group)
July 2024 – Common Good – Thirsk Rural Arts (group)
February 2024 – Dark Peak Festival, Glossop (group)
December2023/January 2024 – Wintertide – Scarborough ArtShed by Mandy Apple Collective (group)
October 2023-October 2024 – To The Sea – Shutterhub, St Gilles Croix de Vie, France (group)
Summer 2023 – RPS Summer Show – RPS, Bristol (group)
July 2023 – The Handworkers – Gallery 33, Scarborough (solo)
March – April 2023 – The Handworkers – Ryedale Folk Museum (solo)
March 2023 – Performing The Photobook – Format 23 (group)
January 2023 – Transmutation – curated by Melanie King at The Margate School (group)
November 2022 – Lies A Calm Along The Deep – Dalby Forest Courtyard (solo)
2022 – Ryedale open Studios group show – Ryedale Folk Museum (group)
2022 – Your Body Belongs to You – Shutterhub, St Gilles Croix de Vie, France (group)
2022 – Motherhood & Identity – York College (solo)
2022 – Postcards from Great Britain – Shutterhub, Cambridge University (group)
2021 – The Strandline – Ryedale Open Studios (solo)
2021 – Postcards from Great Britain – Shutterhub, Europe-wide (group)
2020 – Portrait of Britain 2020 – 1854, nationwide (group)
2020 – Everyday Delight – Shutterhub, nationwide (group)
2019 – Motherhood and Identity: Tattooed Mamas Breaking the Taboos – Sydenham Arts Platform (solo)
2019 – Through the Lens – Sydenham Arts (group)
2018 – Women Behind the Lens – The Guardian & Picfair, London (group)
Curation
Publications
Edgelands zine, Limen June 2024
The Pink Line, self-pubished 2024
Stir The Pot, Overlapse 2024
Fragments, Artist’s handmade sculptural book 2022
Ebb/Flow, Artist’s handmade book (shortlisted for Belfast Photo Festival 2022)
Portrait of Britain Volume 3, Hoxton Mini Press 2020
Rankin’s This is Britain, Photobox 2017
Motherhood, self-published 2019
Motherhood and Identity: Tattooed Mamas Breaking the Taboos, self-published 2019
Awards & Accolades
2023 – Shortlisted for RPS IPE165
2022 – Shortlisted for Belfast Photo Festival
2020 – Portrait of Britain winner
2018 – The Guardian and Picfair Women Behind the Lens finalist
Residencies & collaborations
Common Good Group Residency, Thirsk Rural Arts, July 2024
Art Happens Here, Malton, North Yorkshire, May 2024
Selected commissions & grants
York and North Yorkshire Mayoral Vibrant High Streets Fund, working with You Will Be CIC (Ryedale Film&Photo Fest) 2026
a.n. bursary (professional development) 2026
North Yorkshire Combined Authority Small Arts Grant (mindful photography community walks series) 2024
Ryedale District Council Small Arts Grant (cameraless photography community workshops) 2023
Ryedale District Council Creative Economy Commission(The Handworkers) 2022
CONTACT ME
rachelrimellphotography@gmail.com