About
Rachel Maclean is a researcher in the Department of Fine Art at Newcastle University's School of Arts and Cultures. Her work explores the intersection of aesthetics and cultural critique through multimedia installations and curatorial projects.
Her 2019 exhibition Too Cute! Sweet is about to get Sinister at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery examined the paradoxical nature of cuteness, combining historical artifacts with contemporary digital video. The project, commissioned in partnership with the Arts Council Collection, included the film Dr Cute, which deconstructed societal fascination with cute imagery through grotesque academic satire.
Maclean's practice investigates how visual elements like cuteness can simultaneously evoke care, fear, and repulsion, bridging disciplines such as film, photography, and digital media within an art-historical context.
