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Rabôt Female Portrait Series. Meet Laura and Schelsey
We’re celebrating female creatives based in Los Angeles who are inspiring to us at RABÔT.
Meet Laura Soto, @lauracatherinesoto and Schelsey, @schelsey.
Laura is wearing our Mesh Paloma Dress and Paradisi Skirt in Sel Wash and Schelsey is wearing our Mesh Paloma Dress and Paradisi Skirt in White.
Laura - Laura Soto is a mixed media sculptor living and working in Los Angeles. She has shown at Leiminspace in Chinatown, Los Angeles (This Never Happened, 2015 & Few and Far Between, 2016) and contributed to MAS Attack at the Torrance Art Museum, as well as Through a Glass Darkly at FRIENDS ARTSPACE (Arlington, VA) 2021. In 2017, Laura exhibited at Galleria Salvatore Lanteri in Milan, Italy (Extra Terrestrial) and, in 2018, her solo exhibition, Flesh and Flood, exhibited with Museum as Retail Space (MaRS) in Los Angeles. Her practice centers mainly on large forms built of fiber that transform under the weight of media amassed.
Schelsey - Schelsey Mahammadie-Sabet is a Nicaraguan-Iranian artist who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Schelsey's art practice centers around image-making using whatever media is available including rocks, glass shards, fruit, flowers and other debris. For the past 6 years, Schelsey has run Leiminspace, a small gallery in Chinatown whose inaugural exhibition showcased the work of Laura Soto. Recently, Schelsey earned a Masters of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy with specialized training in Clinical Art Therapy. She deeply enjoys applying her knowledge of art-making to her clinical work.
Q: What inspires you about each other?
Laura - "There is an immediacy to Schelsey’s work, a playfulness, that I find arresting. Her nature-mosaic-installation-
Schelsey - "I think one of the most exciting things about my relationship with Laura is that it provides a space for very meaningful discussion about art and art-making to occur. Laura has an enormous amount of insight about both the process of her work and the products she creates. A lot of our discussions about art center around the importance of play and experimentation in the studio, something that seems so obvious but really needs to be restated once in a while. Being able to speak with someone who thinks so deeply and is so intentional with her work has always felt like a gift."
Q: How have you been uplifted by each other?
Schelsey - "As I said above, I've always found Laura to be very generous with her insights - having someone to process with you who shares similar values to you isn't always the easiest thing to come by- and I think talking out your work with someone you trusr can offer tremendous clarity in building your practice. I've also always found in her an affirming force, it means a lot that we share mutual respect for one another's work. It makes a huge difference to have someone who can understand what you're doing and provide encouragement! I also cannot leave out the fact that we've shared so many laughs together- humor can be a very uplifting force."
