Rooted & Rising | Artist Interview with Rae Akino
In our city’s rich and layered history, few things are more powerful than the archive. The memories, stories, and artifacts stored in places like The Seattle Public Library remind us who we are, where we’ve come from — and where we might yet go. Rooted & Rising: Stories from the African American Archive, now showing at the Central Library’s Level 8 gallery, invites us into that space of reflection and imagination. Curated by Imani Sims of Vivid Matter Collective, the show pairs archival materials from the Douglass-Truth Branch’s African American Collection with new works by five Seattle-based Black artists: Akoiya Harris, DJ Summersoft, Natasha Green, Quenton Baker, and Rae Akino. (blog.spl.org)
Today, we focus on Rae Akino: their journey, artistic lens, and what it means to weave the personal with the archival; the past with possible futures.
Getting to Know Rae Akino
Rae Akino is a self-taught visual artist based in Seattle. What began as a coping mechanism for depression and anxiety evolved into an artistic practice through which they examine identity, sexuality, spirituality, and mental health. Their work often lives in that vulnerable space — textural, expressive, deeply rooted in personal and communal storytelling.
Drawing from influences in literature, Afrocentrism, and the lived Black experience in the Pacific Northwest, Rae sees their art as a way to make visible what has been silenced or overlooked — to create connection, and to challenge viewers to see beyond “the pretty picture on the wall.”
On Rooted & Rising — Rae Akino’s Contribution
In Rooted & Rising, Rae’s work interacts with archival texts, photographs, and objects from the African American Collection in ways that both honor history and move toward new imaginings. The show as a whole uses mixed media installations, digital work, reimagined archival texts, blackout poetry, even nail art. Rae Akino’s contribution holds space among these modalities, bringing a signature vulnerability, bold color, and narrative strength.
For Rae, it isn’t just about interpreting the archive. It’s about a conversation: how the past, present, and future overlap; how personal pain and healing map onto collective memory; how identity is complex, intersectional, in motion. Their art in Rooted & Rising feels both a reclaiming of what was hidden and a calling forward — toward voice, agency, and community ritual.
Interview Highlights
On the crossroads: Rae reflected on the symbolism of crossroads as spaces of choice, tension, and possibility — places where the past, present, and future intersect. This imagery runs through their work for Rooted & Rising, connecting personal memory to collective history.
“The dude on the corner”: One of Rae’s pieces honors the familiar neighborhood figure who lingers on the block, carrying stories, history, and presence that often go unnoticed. Rae shared that this figure embodies both resilience and memory — the living archive of a community.
Inspiration from Alice: Rae drew inspiration from Alice, the book by Whoopi Goldberg, noting how its central character embodies complexity, grit, and an unapologetic stance in the world. That energy informed their approach to character and representation in the installation.
Ibeyi and the twins: Rae spoke about the influence of Ibeyi — the Afro-Cuban, French twin duo — and how their presence in the world reflects themes of duality. In their artwork, Rae explored this idea of twins as symbolic of light and dark, self and shadow, visibility and invisibility.Why Rooted & Rising Matters
This exhibit is more than an art show. It is a reclamation, a restoration of voices, histories, and experiences — many of which the broader public may not even know exist in our own city. The African American Collection at Douglass-Truth has over 10,000 items, many donated by the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and played a crucial role in keeping the Douglass-Truth Branch alive in the 1960s.
In pairing that archive with current creative work by artists like Rae Akino, Rooted & Rising shows us that historical artifacts don’t merely preserve the past — they inform the present, shape identity, and open paths toward future possibility. It’s about memory and imagination; about what was, what is, and what is yet to be.
Visit Rooted & Rising
You can experience Rooted & Rising: Stories from the African American Archive now through Sunday, October 5, 2025, at the Central Library’s Level 8 gallery. The exhibition transforms the space into one of creative exploration, ritual, and participatory reflection — and Rae Akino’s work is a vital part of that tapestry.
Where: Seattle Public Library, Central Branch, Level 8
When: Now through October 5, 2025
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I hope you’ll join us in seeing the work, feeling its power, and reflecting on how our stories — past, present, future — are deeply interconnected.
Untitled By Rae Akino
The Twins
Inspired by Twins in Alice
By Whoopi Goldberg
