Rachel Whiteread research

Rachel Whiteread, the first women to be awarded the Turner Prize , is a contemporary artist who mainly works with sculpture. Many of her works take the form of casts.

Her best know works include House (1993) , Ghost (1990) and Embankment (2005-2006), however House is probably her best know as it was the work she was awarded the turner prize for.

House was an expansion on her previous work Ghost and caused a lot of controversy in the local council when they reached the decision to demolish it on the same day Whiteread recieved the Turner. (a somewhat ironic decision)

Her works have often been regarded as being evocative of Death and Absence as most of her works are of things that are not there.

Embankment (2005-2006)

Embankment was a exhibition held in the tate modern, it consisted of 14000-odd translucent white polyethylene boxes , which were casts of the inside of different cardboard boxes. the boxes were stacked in a variety of ways, some in ordered rectangular stacks close to the floor and others in mountainous peaks that stretched up above the rest.

 Whiteread has cited both the end scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark ( 1981, Dir. Spielberg ) and Citizen Kane ( 1941, Dir. Welles) as visual inspirations. The death of her mother and the subsequent packing of all her belongings into cardboard boxes was a large influence as well.