ABOUT

Rachel Trusty (she/her) is an artist-scholar currently working as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Bucknell University. Trusty holds a Ph.D. in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Kansas (2022) and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from Lesley College in Boston, MA (2011). 

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Trusty's research and artistic practice explores themes of gender and sexuality in contemporary art. Her dissertation, "Embodiment and Agency within the Artistic Practice of Queer Abstraction," utilizes the contemporary genre of queer abstraction as a case study of what queer can do conceptually in object form. Her research has been published in The International Journal of Social, Political, and Community Agendas in the Arts, ARTMargins Online, and the American Alliance of Museums Alliance Blog.

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Trusty's current art series, Down South, continues her scholarly research by applying the goals of queer abstraction specifically to discuss themes of rural queerness and class. Her artwork has been included in solo exhibitions in Kansas, Arkansas, and New York, and in group exhibitions in Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. 

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In her free time, Trusty enjoys painting and making sculptures. She is a film buff. She also enjoys hanging out with her two chihuahuas.