Rachel Mackow is a photographer, writer, and performer.
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I reside on a working farm in New Jersey (USA) near the Musconetcong and Delaware Rivers with my husband, son, and a little black cat.
PHOTOGRAPHY & WRITING
My visual work is cinematic and rich, exploring the texture of falling darkness, the self and others in context, and the senses. Illuminated windows, wildflowers, shadowy forests, passing cars, my family and my own form appear my images. My visual work is often paired with lyrical memoir.
MUSIC
I perform with the four-piece band, Hollow Howl, adding my deep vocals to the band’s dark, evocative rock ‘n roll. Performing is a supreme joy.
Hollow Howl’s website // bandcamp // IG // Youtube
WILD PLANTS
Also a professional grower of native plants, my sensitivity to nature richly informs my creative life. I co-own Wild Ridge Plants with my husband, Jared.
Collaborators
My current creative collaborators - to stand beside these individuals and create together - humbling and inspiring:
Jared Rosenbaum, musician & writer, father & husband
Robin Tomlinson, musician & artist, friend
Scott Breeman, musician & artist, friend
Marc Michini, musician, friend
Current Projects
Co-curator with my husband, Jared, of pARTy, a monthly open house featuring art, music, performance, and earth-based activities at our family’s farm/native plant nursery, Alpha, NJ
Vocalist for Hollow Howl, a band featuring dark, evocative rock ‘n roll.
Selected Exhibitions
A review of this section reveals a decade long gap in which I focused on mothering and family, as well as writing and co-founding our family’s native plant nursery.
2022 Wild Ridge Plants, Night, Alpha, NJ
2019 Banana Factory, InVision Festival, Bethlehem, PA
2019 Clarkville, Pop Shop, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Johnson Education Center, Wildness In Our Midst: Sourlands Art Exhibition, Princeton, NJ
2008 16th Phillips’ Mill, Annual Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition, New Hope, PA
2008 Gallery 14, Where the Raven Calls, Hopewell, NJ (solo exhibit)
2008 Johnson Education Center, The Road Not Taken: Journeys into Nature, Princeton, NJ
2008 Princeton Public Library, Seasons on the Sourland Mountain, Princeton, NJ (solo exhibit)
2007 Hopewell Public Library, The Sourland Mountain, Hopewell, NJ (solo exhibit)
2006 Center for Photography at Woodstock, Passionate Attitudes, Woodstock, NY
2006 Saint Peter’s Church, Two Seasons on the Sourland Mountain, New York, NY (solo exhibit)
2006 New Arts Program, Invitational Salon of Small Works, Kutztown, PA
2006 Adkins Arboretum, Untitled Group Show, Ridgely, MD
2005 Queens Museum of Art, Queens International, Queens, NY
2005 Gallery B, Postcards from Lost Places, Philadelphia, PA (solo exhibit)
2004 Three Bow Thais, Monoliths, Brooklyn, NY (solo exhibit)
2004 Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Toxic Landscapes: Artists Examine the Environment, Loveladies, NJ
2003 Kelly Writers House at University of Pennsylvania, Metropolis, Philadelphia, PA (two person exhibit)
2003 New Century Guild, US Naval Home, Philadelphia, PA
2003 LadyfestPhilly, Philadelphia, PA
2002 Rutgers University, In Philadelphia, projected images of urban space with live improvised music, New Brunswick, NJ
2002 José Martí National Library, Toxic Landscapes: Artists Examine the Environment, Havana, Cuba
2002 The Puffin Foundation, Toxic Landscapes: Artists Examine the Environment, Teaneck, NJ
2001 The Fringe, Kleptography, Newark, NJ
2000 DUMBA, Media Arts Festival NYC, New York, NY
1999 Mason Gross School of the Arts, Titled (BFA Thesis Exhibit), New Brunswick, NJ
1999 Domareki Gallery, The Visual Book, Maplewood, NJ
1998 Connexions Gallery, The Photographers' Show, Easton, PA
1997 Printmaking Council of New Jersey, Negative Positive, North Branch, NJ
Lectures & Presentations
2018 “Breaking Bread with Wildlife”, Design with Nature: Wild Ones Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN
2018 “Wildflowers of the Sourlands”, presenter/artist’s talk, Hopewell Theater, Hopewell, NJ
2011 “Wildflowers of the Sourlands”, presenter/artist’s talk, Hopewell Public Library, Hopewell, NJ
2008 “The Sourland Mountain”, presenter/artist’s talk, Washington Crossing Audubon Society, Pennington, NJ
2008 “Seasons on the Sourland Mountain”, artist’s talk, Princeton Public Library, Princeton, NJ
Selected Publications and Features
Featured photographer on StrudelMediaLive’s instagram account, October 2022
Featured poet on the Saturday Morning Poetry program, hosted by Hudson Chapter of the Native Plant Society, 2022
Night, Artist’s Zine, 2021
“Grown Wild” column, Edible Jersey Magazine, 2013 – 2016. From 2013 to 2016, Rachel wrote a four times per year seasonal essay about wild plants, mothering, and gardening. Her photographs accompanied each article.
Living In The Sourlands: A Guide to Responsible Stewardship, Sourland Planning Council, 2010
Back Roads (now called The Sourland Journal), Spring 2007, Summer 2007, Autumn 2007
PHOTOGRAPHY Quarterly, “Passionate Attitudes”, Issue 94, Winter 2006. Published by The Center for Photography at Woodstock.
Harper's Magazine, “United They Fall”, hand-tinted photographs of the United Nations building, January 2006
Lowlands, Artist's Book, Summer 2005
The Philadelphia Independent, cover article, "The Naval Home Burns," documentation of Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, Spring 2003
The Philadelphia Independent, "Skilled Trades," photographs and essay on working in Northeast Philadelphia, Spring 2003
Education
2000 BFA summa cum laude, Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
Awards
2000 Giza Daniels-Endesha Award: Outstanding Performance in the Visual Arts