About
Artist's Statement
Rebecca Farkas creates animations, installations, drawings, photographs and videos. Her work centres on memory and responds to places, people, and their stories. Whether it’s a 30-foot-high projection onto a castle wall, an installation in an intimate office space or an animated ‘still life’, she seeks to produce a point of connection and a shared experience with the audience – always looking for a sense of wonder.
In her recent work, Rebecca has created digital ‘still life’ animations that develop the Memento Mori/Vanitas tradition of representing gathered objects and possessions. The translation of ‘memento mori’ is ‘remember you must die’ and the idea behind the original 17th Century paintings was to remind people that they should live their lives to the full.
Rebecca grew up in the circus, moving between towns and being educated on the road: this inspired a fascination with the transformation of different places and spaces and informed her journey into memory. After moving to Herefordshire, UK, with her family, Rebecca completed a BA (Hons) Fine Art at Herefordshire College of Arts as a mature student. She passionately believes that art is for everyone.
As well as being exhibited in multiple venues, her work has been commissioned by Meadow Arts, National Trust, Rural Media, Centre for Cultural Value and Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum. In 2022, she was awarded Developing Your Creative Practice funding by Arts Council England.
Qualifications & Awards
Recipient of Developing Your Creative Practice funding from Arts Council England 2022-23
Winner of the Meadow Arts Prize 2010
Fine Art BA (Hons) - 1st Class, Hereford College of Arts, 2010
Commissions
Friction - a commission by the Centre for Cultural Value to create a short animation, in response to a digest report on the social role of the artist.
Head, Heart, Gut - a short animation created in response to a commission by The Hour Collective to create a piece of work in one hour, in response to an 'aha moment' during an artist coaching session.
Sun Stands Still with Leanne O'Connor - commissioned by Meadow Arts, this short film celebrates the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, with photographs by people in rural communities.
Object Love – commissioned by Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum, the project gathered people’s favourite objects and stories together to create digital animations. It included online and physical workshops for Headway and MAGGS (charities for people with head injuries and homeless people).
Ledbury Poetry Festival commission – a collaborative audio and visual installation, work in progress.
Memento Mori – video projection installation for a young people’s live event, using animation to investigate ideas of mortality, material possessions and living life to the full, part of Create Fuel, an event commissioned by Herefordshire’s a Great Place/Rural Media, also shown at Eastside Projects, Birmingham
Volka – site-specific installation in a rural church, as part of The Light, an exhibition of artists using light in their work.
Thereby Hangs a Tale – artist residency at Croft Castle & Parkland (National Trust) commissioned by Meadow Arts, resulting in site-specific projection into a neglected cellar space in the castle for Time Will Tell, group exhibition. Accompanied by public artist’s talk. (This piece was reconfigured at a much larger scale for In Another Light in 2014-15, at the request of National Trust and Meadow Arts.)
A Shrine to Our Precious Things – commissioned by Meadow Arts for In Another Light, group exhibition at Croft Castle & Parkland. An installation on two nights: members of the public joined in to create a ‘shrine’ at Croft Castle. This was accompanied by a website where people could contribute pictures and stories of personally ‘precious’ items that they owned.
Exhibitions
2024-25 Three animated films, Malvern Theatres
2024 Longings & Belongings, digital animation, EOP Summer Camp, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
2024 Head, Heart, Gut and Still Life, digital animations, Revolting Artists exhibition, Weymouth
2023 Longings & Belongings, digital animation, At a Loss exhibition, Art Central Gallery, Wales
2023 Longings & Belongings, digital animation, MEMORY - Mykolaiv ArtWeek, Platforma MyART, Ukraine
2023 Friction, digital animation, commissioned by the Centre for Cultural Value, based at University of Leeds
2023 Head, Heart, Gut, digital animation, EOP Summer Camp & STREAM, Eastside Projects
2023 Dragging up an exhibition: An unlikely cast of characters, collaborative online exhibition, Axis
2023 English Language, 4 drawings, Spirit of Fire exhibition, Herefordshire
2023 Longings & Belongings, digital animation, Borderlines Film Festival
2022 The Exchange, selected for online international art exchange project, Eastside Projects
2022 Still Life, digital animation, EOP Summer Camp & STREAM, Eastside Projects
2022 Still Life, digital animation, Borderlines Film Festival
2021 Head, Heart, Gut, digital animation commissioned by The Hour Collective
2021 Still Life, digital animation for International Women’s Day – exhibited online by Hereford College of Arts as part of In The Frame
2021 Object Love (excerpt), Borderlines Film Festival
2020 Sun Stands Still, a short film made with Leanne O'Connor to celebrate the winter solstice in rural communities, commissioned by Meadow Arts
2020 Object Love, digital animations commissioned by Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum
2020-22 R&D project with Ledbury Poetry Festival – commissioned artwork in progress
2019 Memento Mori II, single-channel digital installation, EOP Summer Camp, Eastside Projects
2019 Memento Mori, video projection installation, part of Create Fuel (commissioned by Herefordshire’s a Great Place/Rural Media)
2019 LIZDJ.UK online featured work Thereby Hangs a Tale (studio image)
2018 The Twelve Trees, installation, Blue Studio, Abergavenny
2017 Untitled, site-specific installation for The Happening, Rural Media/Invisible Arts Network, Hereford
2016 Unseen, site-specific installation, Hereford College of Arts
2015 Volka, site-specific installation, The Light, St Michael’s Church, Kingsland, Herefordshire
2015 Believe, video installation, Group Show, Hereford College of Arts
2014-15 A Shrine to Our Precious Things, live public event & online artwork; reconfigured Thereby Hangs a Tale large-scale outdoor installation, In Another outdoor installation for In Another Light, Croft Castle, Herefordshire (commissioned by Meadow Arts/National Trust)
2013 Artists’ Talk: Rebecca Farkas & Lexi Strauss at Worcester Museum & Art Gallery for PITT Projects
2013 Thereby Hangs a Tale, commissioned work for Meadow Arts/National Trust exhibition, Time Will Tell at Croft Castle, Hfds (including Artist’s Talk)
2013 Ludlow Open, video
2012-13 Artist in Residence, commissioned to make work for Meadow Arts exhibition Time Will Tell
2011 Spread Art, photographs, Art 360 (for h.Art 2011)
2010 Herefordshire Open Exhibition, video
2010 h.Art, photographs, The Print Shed
2010 Summer Show, installation, Hereford College of Arts (graduate show)
2009 Summer Show, installation, Hereford College of Arts (group show)
2008 The Pen, artist’s print, Material, Ludlow
2008 Open Studios, photographs, video, installation, Hereford College of Arts
2007 h.Art, Frame Up, photographs, Hereford
2007 All Saints Church, photographs, Hereford
2007 Summer Show, artist’s print, Hereford College of Arts
CV
Image credit: Memento Mori studio test (apple core and Twitter bird), 2019