Raquel Ormella


Raquel Ormella is an Australian artist focusing on multimedia works such as posters, banners, videography and needlework. Ormella’s work has been showcased in many exhibitions in galleries and museums, including the Shepparton Art Museum and the Art Gallery New South Wales. Working in Sydney and Canberra, Ormella’s pieces are known to encompass themes of activism and social issues in many forms and has received praise.

Early life

Raquel Ormella was born in Sydney in 1969 to her South American mother and Spanish father. Ormella’s parents immigrated from Germany to Australia.
Due to their migration, Ormella identified the negative affect it had on her family and felt a separation from her European life. This rift intrigued her and influenced her decision to take part in an exchange to Vienna at the end of her studies.Ormella also felt a desire to take part in the exchange intending to move away from other’s ideals and decisions being superimposed onto her.
Ormella first studied a Bachelor of Visual Art cam at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean in 1992-6. Once finishing her honours, Ormella studied at Akademie der Bilden Kunst, Vienna, Austria in 1997. She is also a holder of a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Western Sydney, Nepean in 2003-5. Ormella was awarded a PhD in Visual Arts granted by the Australian National University in 2013. Her thesis examined human relationships with urban birds.

Career

Since 2006 Raquel Ormella has taught painting at the Australian National University in the 3rd year, Honours and post-graduate programs along with continuing her personal practice.
Ormella is an artist working at the intersections of art and activism, investigating the means by which critical reflexivity in contemporary art encourages processes of self-examination regarding political consciousness and social action. Ormellaʼs practice is grounded in exploring the nature of the relationship between humans and the natural environment, with a particular focus on urban expansion and forest activism. In highlighting the connectedness between the two, Ormella attempts to show that our depictions of the natural world are not representations of true "wilderness" or a pure state, but rather are informed by human contact and reflective of human values. Ormella has built a practice covering a diverse range of activities such as textiles, video, paintings, installations, drawings, and zines. She is interested in exploring the relation of the audience to the artwork by using multiples. Ormella’s works are displayed in both galleries as well as public spaces. The use of textiles and posters as mediums coincides with Ormella’s focus on activism. The history of embroidery and textile work is embedded in feminist art and was considered ‘women’s work', Ormella uses it as an enforcement of feminist activism in her works.
Ormella’s work focuses more on the story of the world around her rather than herself. She takes into account other individuals' experiences for a theme of commonality within activism. She believes the works should speak for themselves and not be influenced or interpreted via her personal story.
Three of Ormella’s works are held within the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art at the University of Western Australia:
Recent exhibitions include:
Solo exhibitions include: