Rainey Straus is a painter and photographer. She writes of her work: “My practice responds to the unfolding absences caused by the climate crisis. Co-creating with the more-than-human world, I make cyanotypes and paintings rooted in walking the land. The cyanotypes, made over multiple days of hiking, tell the stories of time, form, and events that have shaped specific sites. The large paintings explore old-growth forests filtered through the lens of technology (3D or LiDar scans.) The final compositions are distorted fragments that mirror the objectification of the natural world and our disconnect. I am interested in questions related to non-human subjecthood, attention as care, and building relationships with specific places. My work simultaneously expresses the aliveness of the world while navigating collapse and destruction. For me, beauty, awe, and wonder inspire action. My intention is to invite inquiry: What stories does the land tell? How do we grow reciprocity? And how might we live on a changing planet?”

Straus’s work has been exhibited in California and Canada. Her publications include work in the Dark Mountain Journal, Unpsychology Magazine, Sculpture Magazine, Rhizome Online, Videogames, Art, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Jose Mercury News. 

Straus lives and works in Marin County, California.

raineystraus.net