An Artist Who Has Something in Common With Her Subjects
The New York Times
Rachel Handlin is possibly the first person with Down syndrome to receive an M.F.A., and one of just a few to hold a bachelor’s. Her first solo show features her portraits of others like her.
On the evening in early November when I met the artist Rachel Handlin at White Columns, the prestigious nonprofit gallery in the West Village, she immediately outstretched her arms.
“I’m a hugger,” she said. “You’re so cute,” she added.
I thanked her and replied that she was cute, too.
“You’re cute,” she said. “I’m beautiful, actually.”
Ms. Handlin, 29, was almost finished installing her first solo show, “strangers are friends I haven’t met yet.” Like the blue line of cyanotype images tracing the rooms where her photos, sculptures and video works are displayed, the show “connects the community who didn’t know it,” she explained. “It is a community through the image.”
That community is composed of roughly two dozen people with Down syndrome across the globe who have graduated from two- or four-year colleges — like Ms. Handlin herself, who holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the California Institute of the Arts. In May, after graduating with a master’s in fine arts from Pratt Institute, Ms. Handlin became the first person with Down syndrome to receive a master's degree, she and her family believe.
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