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Rachel Parish Scholar-in-Residence

Rachel Parish | 2023

I will be researching the following ideas: How does the Atlanta Beltline function as a physical and spiritual space that reflects complex relationships to our built environment? What happens when we consider this massive urban development through a lens of ‘wildness?’  Wildness is an ‘othering’ concept that distances us from a natural state. It also conjures up opposing imagery including allure, danger, and enticement or peace, purity and nature.  Can urban development be seen as a process of the creation and subjugation of wildness through stages of abandonment, cultivation + ownership, and curation + domination?  What happens when we tune into the states of wildness that exist along the Beltline while it is itself in various stages of development?  Can seeing through the complex lens of wildness allow us a pathway to understand how we can live in harmony with the disparate parts of our communities?  Can it allow us to be more gentle with the processes of cultivation and domination that urban development pushes us toward by offering alternative value systems to sit alongside economic ones?

About the Artist

Rachel Parish

Rachel Parish is a theatre director, installation artist, arts leader, and community organizer. With specialties in directing, devising and dramaturgy for new plays, her work has taken place in the UK, Ireland, China, Switzerland, the USA, Croatia, and Gabon, with support from organizations including Arts Council England, the Wellcome Trust and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Recent original stage productions include Manifesting Destiny and Hellscreen (London, 2015). Rachel’s work contains a close attention to visual design and often incorporates original live music and rich choreography. Rachel trained in London at the prestigious National Theatre Studio Director’s Course. She received her MA with distinction from the Central School of Speech and Drama and, in the USA she studied at the University of Georgia, with LaMama and the SITI Company, and is a graduate of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. Audrey Gámez is a mezzo-soprano originally from Spring, Texas. Audrey’s work spans multiple genres, and she has been a featured soloist for opera, classical chamber music, rock and roll, and performance art. In 2016, Audrey was a featured soloist for Jessica Caldas’ exhibition “Love/d & Sex/ed” at the Mammal Gallery. She has performed with Capital City Opera in Atlanta, most recently in the role of Ciesca in Gianni Schicci. In 2009, Audrey performed the role of Fidalma in Il Matrimonio Segreto in Montegridalfo, Italy. From 2011-2015, Audrey was lead singer for the Broyles Street Band, utilizing her training in opera and classical performance to bring dynamic vocal dexterity to classic rock songs of the Clash, Led Zeppelin and Guns and Roses. An avid educator, Audrey has maintained a private voice studio since 2005. In addition to performance, Audrey is the Education Manager for C4 Atlanta and an active advocate for the arts. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music degree from Louisiana S State University.

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