About

Rain is a visual artist and researcher who lives and works between Essex, South East London and Newcastle. They graduated with a degree in Sculpture from Camberwell University of the Arts in London in 2013. They also hold an MA in Fine Art (2018) and an MA in Queer History (2021) from Goldsmiths, University of London. They are currently a final-year PhD candidate funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) within the Performance Cultures and Contemporary Art Research clusters at Northumbria University.

Working across sculpture, installation, writing, and performance, Rain's practice investigates the relationships between embodiment, materiality, and non-binary experience. Their current doctoral research, Sculptural Investigations of Non-Binary Bodies: Physical Exercise as/in Reflexive Embodied Art Practice, uses weightlifting as both subject and method, exploring how gym environments, bodily training, and sculptural processes generate new ways of thinking about gender.

Through experimental casting, installation, and embodied material investigations, Rain works with water, sweat, vapour, rubber, textiles, and gym objects to examine how bodily traces and material transformations challenge fixed understandings of bodies and identity. Their practice considers how sculptural processes such as seepage, stickiness, and atmospheric diffusion can reveal embodiment as relational, affective, and continually in formation.

Rain has exhibited their work extensively across the UK and Europe. In 2013, they exhibited their undergraduate degree show exhibition as part of Saatchi's New Sensations Award. They received the 2018/2019 Goldsmiths and Acme Studio award, supported by Jane Hamlyn. Their work has been featured in various creative outlets, including "Fleisch," a book celebrating queer artists (Germany, 2019). As a researcher, Rain contributed to "Queer Pandemic," a video-based oral history project that captured stories of LGBTQI+ people in the UK during the pandemic, and the project was later exhibited at Queer Britain 2022. In 2023, they were awarded the Artquest Adaptions award, a development award for artists living outside of London to explore new ways of working that support their practice.

In addition to their creative work, Rain is a passionate advocate for LGBTQI+ rights and regularly works as an advisor and independent writer championing inclusivity. They are also an associate lecturer on the BA (Fine Art) Sculpture Degree at Camberwell University of the Arts in London.

Email: rainkhoward@gmail.com

Instagram: just_call_me_rain_