Rachel Cabitt

Born: Rowley, MA — 1993 / Living: New York, NY

Interview by Speciwomen — October 2018

Speciwomen: Who are you? 

Rachel Cabitt: I’m an artist currently based in New York originally from Massachusetts. I used to say my primary focus was photography, but I’d say that is now slowly transitioning to include more mediums. My art as a whole, whatever medium I’m working in, though, focuses on the interaction of light and color.

S: What made you pick up a camera for the first time?

RC: A mandatory photography class my freshman year of high school. Before that, I was indebted to studio art.

S: Why do you photograph?

RC: To look at the world differently.

S: When someone views your work, what do you wish they feel?

RC: Anything they’d like. Maybe vulnerability, intimacy?

S: What is it about human faces and bodies that draws your lens in?

RC: I'd actually say that faces and bodies aren't what attracts me, but the shared relationship between myself and the subject.

S: What has been the most informative experience you’ve had as a photographer thus far?

RC: Realizing that you don’t need to photograph everything. Being present is just as important.

S: Do you prefer to work digitally or with a film camera? How do the two differ to you?

RC: I prefer working with film, but I also find that it doesn’t matter what tool you use. What's most important is your point of view. I purposefully shoot at night on film though, because photographing with limited light on film is the challenge. By definition, photography is the recording of light. How far I can push that is what draws me in.

S: Where do you draw the most inspiration from?

RC: Books, museums, great female artists.

S: You also work with film. Why do you think that the two media of photography and film communicate well? If at all.

RC: I think I’m still figuring that out. I’ve really only experimented with Super 8, but I also never really have the urge to shoot digital film-wise. Going from still to the moving image via Super 8 felt like a natural transition because each frame still felt like a photo. I see it more as capturing moving portraits rather than making a short film. Also Super 8 presented itself as another analog medium to test shooting on in limited light.

S: What are your thoughts on social media and on technology’s constant evolution?

RC: Social media is a great way to share ideas, to raise awareness, to stay connected. But as an artist it is all at once a library of inspiration, as well as a clog of creativity. I’ve found that it’s all about balance.

S: Has you being a woman impacted your experience as a photographer at all? If so, in what ways?

RC: It hasn’t impacted the work I make, but it drives my work ethic. It has made me stronger, more resilient, more independent. It’s made me push ten times harder. But I also don’t think I’d change that. Proving people wrong is one of the most rewarding feelings. I just finished reading “Ninth Street Women”, a book on five artists during the Abstract Expressionist Movement: Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, and Grace Hartigan. Even though I finished it a month ago, those women are constantly on my mind. It’s funny though, right after, I picked up a book on a male art dealer during that same time, thinking it would go great chronologically, but I just can’t get hooked on it. I think that great art comes out of great challenges.