Rachel Emily Taylor makes works that involve mis- or under-represented people from history, with a particular interest in how the past can be reconstructed, which she explores through residencies and collaborations with museums and archives.

In 2018, she completed a practice-based PhD, titled Heritage as Process, which was fully-funded by the AHRC. The project explored how art practice might communicate the historical person’s voice and analysed the representation of the individual or ‘character’ in museums. 

She is writing Illustration and Heritage for Bloomsbury Publishing, which will be printed in 2023. Grounding discussions in concepts fundamental to the illustrator, the book explores the re-materialisation of absent, lost, and invisible stories through illustrative practice and examines the potential role of contemporary illustration in cultural heritage. 

Rachel and Leah Fusco established Remote Sensing, a platform designed to share knowledge, approaches, and challenges in place-based fieldwork, with a focus on collections, sites, and communities.

Rachel is currently the Course Leader on BA Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts. Rachel is on the Steering Committee for Illustration Research, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Illustration, and on the Advisory Committee for Illustration Educators. 

You can view her exhibitions, publications, and previous affiliations on her curriculum vitae and further practice on her project list.