Rate’s multimedia body of work began during her three-month residency at 85 Glasgow Street in 2024, an opportunity that caused leaps in the development of her practice, and the formation of earnest connections to Whanganui. She continued to build on this work during visits to Whanganui over the following year. 

 

This was a period of both geographic and personal change Rate characterises as, “beginnings, endings and uncertainty, both sad and exciting, often of intense anxiety, but also joy.” She describes her process as a frantic search for grounding and stability, an attempt to be, “out of my head and onto the page, and into the world.” Rate spent a large portion of her residency walking and drawing, sometimes collecting things, returning only when it got dark or cold. She produced over 100 drawings, many of which are water marked by rain. 

 

In the studio, Rate continued experiments with printmaking and paper-making, using the drawings as foundations for compositions. Despite the duality of technical approaches, an intuitive and imaginative use of mark-making is a constant through work, whether the marks were created using found objects, fingerprints, pencil or ink. 

 

In Two paths, walkways, roads and tunnels are depicted frequently, often with invisible endings. As well as being observations of real places, in equal measure, the work may be read as an internal exploration of life’s transition into the unknown.