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Rae Boggs – Under the Rainbow, Together

My Formative years 0 to 10 – $2337

Zero – $110
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 7cm x 7cm x 8cm

One – $125
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 8cm x 11cm x 9cm

Two – $145
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 10cm x 12cm x 12cmm

Three – $130
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 8cm x 11cm x 9cm

Four – $210
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 12cm x 12cm x 12cm

Five – $245
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 15cm x 15cm x 15cm

Six – $129
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 9cm x 9cm x 9cm

Seven – $320
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 16cm x 16cm x 14cm

Eight – $315
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 14cm x 16cm x 13cm

Nine – $259
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 14cm x 14cm x 12cm

Ten – $349
2023, soft sculpture ink on fabric with embroidery, 2023, 14cm x 19cm x 17cm

Zero to Ten – $2337


My Formative years 0 to 10, is a series of hand sewn soft sculptures with screen–printed text and embroidery. They were inspired by the classic children’s toy the alphabet cube. On two sides of each sculpture the number, which doubles as the title for each individual soft sculpture, is printed. One side has the numeral and on the other the word. On three of the remaining four sides, are printed words and phrases that rhyme with that number. When deciding on the words and phrases I was thinking about how I learned words and stories as a child, mostly through rhyme. The final side has an embroidered image of my younger self, in age corresponding to the number, as a way of re-connecting my past self to my future self.

These soft sculptures follow a previous series, Pronouns Play A to Z, of alphabet soft sculptures and like that series and the toys that inspired them, they are intended to be held, and played with. When I made the first series my older sibling was pregnant and I wanted to make something for my first nibling (a non-gendered word for child of a sibling), when I saw alphabet cubes, I was struck by how they are so much more than a child’s toy, or tool for learning. I wanted to make my own version to allow me to explore the poetics and playfulness of language that is more gender inclusive, what I wish existed when I was a child.

About Rae Boggs
They/Them

Rae Boggs is an artist working in the expanded field of print and installation. Their practice is informed by ongoing concerns around childhood, gender, and language. Their artistic practice draws on the personal experience of identifying as gender non-binary person to investigate the myth of gender representation. Through this investigation they explore the construction of gender stereotypes in the material culture of childhood through language. For Boggs this material culture of childhood includes clothing, toys, and books. Exploring childhood, has allowed Boggs to reconnect their past to their future and discover things about themself.

They work within modes of materiality that shift between printmaking, sculpture, and installation. Their practice includes printing on paper and textiles, soft sculptures, making books, and collaboratively quilting with the aim of making language material. Boggs’ use of textiles includes printing on children’s clothing, making soft sculptural toys and quilts from their own and their family’s cast-offs.

They had their first solo show, Queering Space at Airspace Projects, August 2023; and their recent group shows include Small Works Art Prize at Brunswick Street Gallery, Wurundjeri Country, Fitzroy, Victoria, 6th to 19th January 2024; RECOMPOSE/Drawing Threads at DRAW Space, Newtown, 7th December 2023 to 7th January 2024; Close Encounters at Schmick contemporary, Sydney, 13th to 17th December 2023; Kaleidoscope II, celebrating the LGBTQI+ community at Belconnen Art Centre in Belconnen, Canberra, October – November 2023; the Printmakers Show at Tiliqua Tiliqua Studio, August 2023; the Incognito Art Show, July 2023; inside/s, at Gallery no.23, May 2023; and In Congruence, at Goodspace Gallery, May 2023.

@serialcatnapper
raeboggs.com