Raya Gray is based at Absorb Arts studios in Hackney, London. An artist who has also engaged in design projects, she has reinstated her fine art practice after withdrawing from a postgraduate design course at UAL: Central Saint Martins for reasons related to the pandemic.
Utilising a range of media and simultaneously working within nonconceptual and conceptual domains, Raya’s research-based practice engenders investigations that acknowledge entanglements and fluctuations rather than definitive outcomes. The work is a sensory and aesthetically-reflexive interpretation that acts as both a temporarily living and permanent representational archive of tacit knowledge derived from specific terrains, ecological entities, human-made infrastructures and technologies. Filtering the subjects through a semi-fictional lens to form speculative environments probes nature, the body and technology’s coexistence amidst environmental disturbance.
b. 1996, Scotland.
Education
2015–2019 First-Class, BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting and Printmaking, Glasgow School of Art
2014–2015 Portfolio Preparation Course, Tramway Visual Arts Studio
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Forms of Symbiosis, Absorb Arts
2020 WIP, SWG3 Artist Studios
2019 Laissez-Faire, The Poetry Club
Group Exhibitions & Screenings
2023 MicroActs 15, MicroActs
2023 Artists Film Night, Analogue Ensemble
2022 Situated Knowledges, iota
2022 Creating Our Planet, Glasgow Goes Green Festival, Box Hub North St.
2022 Creating Our Planet, Glasgow Goes Green Festival, The Alchemy Experiment
2022 Creating Our Planet, Glasgow Goes Green Festival, University of Glasgow
2021 When We Have Never Been Human, What Is to Be Done?, Box Hub Vennel
2020 Members Show, Glasgow Print Studio
2019 free sources of raw material, GSA Degree Show 2019, Glasgow School of Art
2018 Something Like That, The Glue Factory
2017 EPHEMERA, David Dale Gallery
2017 Series Two, McLellan Galleries
2017 Toner cartridge is almost empty., Stereo
2016 art assistance, Tramway
2015 Paradise, Voidoid Archive
2015 Portfolio Exhibition, Tramway Visual Arts Studio
Curated Exhibitions & Screenings
2022 Close of Play: Art Making for Earthly Survival, Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art
2022 Creating Our Planet, Glasgow Goes Green Festival, Box Hub North St.
2022 Creating Our Planet, Glasgow Goes Green Festival, University of Glasgow
2021 No Arrow of Time, Box Hub Vennel
2015 Paradise, Voidoid Archive
Extracurricular Courses
2023 Darkroom Printing with Seaweed Workshop, The Sustainable Darkroom
2023 Sustainability and Collaboration in 16mm Filmmaking Course, The Sustainable Darkroom
2023 16mm Film Processing Workshop, James Holcombe
2022 16mm Film Introductory Workshop, Alexander Hetherington
2019 Life Mouldmaking and Casting Course, Nick Brooks
Residency
2019–2020 SWG3 Graduate Programme, SWG3 Artist Studios
Awards
2020 UAL UK/EU Postgraduate Scholarship, University of the Arts London
2015 Nurturing Talent – TTS Fund, Creative Scotland
Memberships
2022–Present Print Club London
2021–Present British Art Network and BAN Landscape Research Group
Employment & Voluntary Work
2022–Present Studio Technician and Tutor, Print Club London
2021–2022 Workshop Facilitator, GSA Sustainability, Glasgow School of Art
2021–2022 Film Screening Coordinator and Panelist, GGGF 2022, Glasgow School of Art
2021–2022 Curator, Box Hub
2016–2020 Gallery Assistant, RGI Kelly Gallery
Oct. 2019 Temporary Workshop Assistant, Glasgow Print Studio
2015–2016 Art Assistant Volunteer, Turner Prize 2015
2014–2015 Workshop Volunteer, Glasgow Print Studio
Commissions
2020 Polytechnic Youth, Record Label
2019–2020 Artificial Horizon, Record Label