Artist Statement
My artistic work recognizes and celebrates difference and hopes to exploring individual resilience. I have been privileged to carry out several artistic projects in partnership with communities, first with people experiencing homelessness and then with individuals living with a terminal illness. Across mediums, my work relies on interviews and narratives which are then translated into visual art. Through my art, I form connections, learn, lift up stories, and work toward collective healing.
In 2012, I completed a solo project titled “Through Their Eyes: Documenting Positive Aspects of Homelessness Through Art” after receiving a SPARK! Arts Grant through the Stanford Arts Institute. After collecting stories and interviews in homeless communities throughout the United States, I completed a series of oil paintings on found pieces of wood. My art challenged media-driven stereotypes of individuals experiencing homelessness by removing external cues of poverty and focusing on the emotions found in the human gaze.
For my Honors in the Arts senior capstone project in 2014, I completed “Fragmentation,” a project and solo gallery exhibition meant to share the stories of individuals diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD), which is a genetic, neurodegenerative disease that has no cure. Since 2013, I have worked part time as a graphic designer for the Huntington's Outreach Project for Education at Stanford (HOPES). Through HOPES and the Palo Alto HD Support Group, I built relationships with and interviewed HD patients. For “Fragmentation,” I interviewed and photographed eight Huntington's disease patients and caregivers living in the San Francisco Bay Area. My capstone project was meant to spread HD awareness and provide an opportunity for HD patients to share their stories beyond the clinical setting. The title “Fragmentation” was inspired by the disease progression of HD and the recognition that over time, what was once known by a patient, caregiver, or friend is broken down, reordered, and degraded. I depicted portraits fragmented along a square grid to highlight the ways in which individual stories transcend the clinical boxes into which patients placed.
To read more about Fragmentation, please visit: http://artsinstitute.stanford.edu/annee-rempel-honors-in-the-arts/
I have been classically trained in drawing and painting through the Art Department at Stanford University under the guidance of Professor Xiaoze Xie. I have also studied through the California State University Summer Arts program in partnership with Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. I am continuing to explore opportunities that allow me to combine my passion for artistic expression with the sharing of stories untold.