1. Rachel Oxley
REALITIES
7 November 2014 to 31 January 2015
Rachel Oxley ‐ Biography
Rachel is a 64 year old mother of three grown up children and has three grandchildren. She had a successful
career in educa on un l 2002 when she was diagnosed with Dissocia ve Iden ty Disorder (DID), previously
known as Mul ple Personality Disorder (MPD). Since 2002 she spent many years in psychiatric services and it
was while in a psychiatric unit that she was first introduced to drawing. From there she went to local community
art classes and then she undertook a six year part‐ me degree in Fine Art at University of No ngham.
A er gradua ng in 2012 she began an MA in Fine Art at No ngham Trent University. Her final project consists
of a series of work that projects the internal psychological experiences of her mental illness, communicates with
the viewers and aims to encourage people to talk about mental health. She has successfully graduated this year
and REALITIES is the first exhibi on outside University that displays the new artworks created during her MA
together with previous works.
Rachel’s work is an explora on of diverse visual media and processes that scru nise her personal and
psychological experiences of disassocia on. Her thinking process and hallucina ons are made visible to the
viewers through her works. The range of media and process used in crea ng her artwork is broad and includes
drawing, sculpture, photography, video and audio – that represent her auditory hallucina ons. .
Throughout her life Rachel has collaborated with numerous mental health ins tu ons and academics taking
part in seminars, conferences and wri ng papers in order to introduce the general public to DID and mental
illness in general.
There is a great deal of s gma a ached to mental illness. People with mental illness feel isolated and o en hide
their condi on from friends, family, work colleagues and employers. With her works Rachel hopes to enable the
viewer to have a glimpse of her experiences through fragments and disconnec ons, experiencing the unfamiliar
and perhaps feeling somewhat uncomfortable.