About

Rebecca Griffith is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and manager of Purple Window Gallery. Her curatorial practice is centered around community outreach and public initiatives that democratize the artworld and create a sense of belonging. Griffith spearheaded the mail art initiative Hello USPS which connected over sixty participants across the United States during the 2020 lockdown. Griffith's curation style is a generative practice, one that facilitates interactions of co-creation through participant interplay. She has curated exhibitions at Purple Window Gallery, Northern Illinois University, The Record Department, and BackSpace Gallery.

Griffith has exhibited at the University of Oople (Poland), Unpacked Mobile Gallery (Chicago), Women Made Gallery (Chicago), Heaven Gallery (Chicago), Terrain Exhibitions (Illinois), and Ann Arbor Art Center (Michigan) among other midwest galleries and cultural institutions. Griffith was awarded first place in the emerging artist exhibition at Cleve Carney Art Gallery in 2018. She was the 2018 curator for Northern Illinois University's President's Office. Under her leadership as President of the Graduate Arts Association at Northern Illinois University (2016 - 2018), Griffith helped fund a week-long trip to New York City that fostered community among graduate members. Griffith earned her B.S.Ed. from Northern Illinois University in 2013 and her M.F.A. from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Griffith currently works in community outreach and engagement at University of Illinois.

Rebecca Griffith’s work examines the process of caregiving for a parent’s chronic disease and coping with this from a young age to adulthood. By excavating selected VHS cassettes and imagery from movies, Griffith recalls a time in her life when her mother was not diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was independently running a video store in the early 1990s. Griffith uses the VHS to address how we process information, and memory by creating delicate quilts, collages, and installations from films of her childhood.