The Artist Exploring Our Relationship With the Divine

Rachel Wark wears Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini lace top. Photo: Lucas Michael

Rachel Wark started the site Define Divine, which looks for keywords like “Virgin Mary” and “Pieta” in order to aggregate religious items sold on eBay, as a nod to her upbringing. “I was never very religious growing up, but both sides of my family were,” she explains. She’s also done a photo installation featuring wallpaper of Mary next to a Coke can, as part of her quest to find out, as she puts it, “Can a photo be sacred?”

These days, Wark is exploring a completely new motif in her artwork. “I’m making a lot of fountains lately,” she says. She’s been teaching herself how to build them, and says ruefully, “I live in the splash zone. I’m just buying pumps and figuring it out.” Read on for her lightning-round answers to our interview questions.

If you could be a magazine, what magazine would you be? Kaleidoscope.

If you could speak to animals, which animals would you want to talk to? This is the hardest question for me to answer because it’s so important to me. It would be a huge range.

Sneakers or slippers? Slippers.

Photo: Lucas Michael

What’s something your social-media followers don’t know about you? Maybe they don’t know what my voice sounds like.

What was the last website you looked at? New York Foundation for the Arts, because I’m looking for opportunities.

If you could be outfitted by one designer for the rest of your life, who would it be? Prada.

What time is your alarm set for in the morning? 8:38 a.m.

What do you eat for breakfast? I had a Greek yogurt that was elderberry-flavored.

If you had only three things you could eat for the rest of your life what would they be? Ceviche poke bowl with fish and avocado, sour candy, salad.

Photo: Lucas Michael

Fuck /Marry/Kill? Rihanna/N/A/Trump.

Person you wouldn’t mind being trapped in an elevator with? The late artist James Lee Byars. He would cover the elevator in gold leaf.

If you could tell Donald Trump ONE thing and make sure he would listen, what would it be? Listen more.

If you were a color, what color would you be? Celadon/light green.

Rachel wears Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini lace top, $641.19 at Farfetch.

The Artist Exploring Our Relationship With the Divine