Chained Up

An extension of their 2024 thesis exhibition, Parameters of Spooning, Heather Rattray investigates the central question of what it means to “queer” an everyday object. "Through ceramics and other materials, I repeatedly reshaped and distorted the spoon, pushing it beyond functionality and into speculative, playful, and intentionally “useless” forms. These works investigate queer identity not as fixed or stable, but as fluid, evolving, and resistant to normative expectations."

Stoneware
Approx. 73.66 x 5.08 x 1.27cm

Heather Rattray (they/them) is a queer interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Toronto. They blend object, image, and text to create multidimensional pieces involving identity, self-exploration, and connection to the natural world. Their MFA thesis (2024) was funded by a Canada Graduate Scholarship from SSHRC. They hold a BFA in Photography from Toronto Metropolitan University (2019) where they won the First Edition Photobook Award and an Honourable Mention for the Burtynsky Photobook Grant. Rattray has exhibited their work at the Art Gallery of Guelph, the Image Centre, Gallery 44, PAL, and Special Projects Gallery, and they have been featured in publications across Canada, the US, and abroad. They currently teach in the Media Arts program at McMaster University and work as the Multimedia Production Technician at the University of Guelph.