Ancient Truth Investigators (ATI), is a narrative-driven exploration in performance art, wearable objects, and sculptural forms. Every organization needs a team, so I’ve developed characters that are my alter egos within the ATI narrative, that I perform as: The Chief, Archer Adler, Dara L. Cheer, and Clara Dreehr. All with exception of The Chief are named after anagrams of my name, Rachel Rader and specialize in their particular fields. When I dress as these characters, each one has a unique personality, and costume. By embodying the characters in my ATI storyline, I invite viewers to suspend their disbelief and engage in my artwork with a heightened sense of receptivity to a fantastical experience.
Most recently I've been developing the character Archer Adler who's a time traveler that’s slowly losing her mind. Archer travels through time and space to find artifacts of humanity’s origin story. Through trial and a significant amount of error, Archer creates a series of time machines. After numerous trips through time and space, Archer returns with relics of our ancient past: core samples from billions of years ago, primordial ooze sourced from the dawn of micro-organisms, and of course selfies taken while she travels through the intergalactic time belt. As the Department Head of Time Travel at the Ancient Truth Investigators HQ, Archer knew she was taking risks but no one could have guessed the significant effects to her mind.
This narrative is ongoing and exists in many facets of my art practice. Sculpture, jewelry and performance art are the three forms in which ATI takes shape. As sculpture, my work blinks, moves, and invites interaction. My most recent work is a series of time machines and artifacts that belong to the Archer Adler character, and are made to be turned on with the push of a button, or used by her in her expeditions. As jewelry, my work is a bite-sized way for folks to experience the ATI narrative. I participate in markets locally, and nationally selling my jewelry and telling the story of ATI through these wearable objects, while talking to customers about my all-encompassing narrative.
Collectively, my work lives in many forms but tells the same story. I invite those who interact with my work to believe. My aim is to invite wonder and to imagine breaking free of the trappings of what society has conditioned us to think we know. The search for ancient truths and Our ancient beginnings is a storyline that ends in discovery of the present. The power of living in the moment is the ultimate discovery of the Ancient Truth Investigators, made through humor and devotion to play.
Artist bio:
Rachel lives in Richmond, VA where she maintains a full time art practice. She dabbles in a myriad of materials and forms of expression as a multidisciplinary artist. In her current project, Ancient Truth Investigators she combines her love of performance with her devotion to material exploration. She holds a BFA in Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. Rachel has taught at numerous institutions including Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, WA, Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC, and UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, NY. She was a 2017 resident artist at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC as a part of the Artists’ Studios Program, and the recipient of a 2016 CGCA Flexible Fellowship at Wheaton Arts in Millville, NJ. She has shown her artwork in various galleries and museums including The Brooklyn Metal Works Gallery, The Bullseye Gallery New York, Quirk Gallery in Richmond, VA, The Racine Art Museum in Racine, WI, The Society of Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Norfolk, VA and The Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR.
