Born and raised in New York City, Rachel Bacon moved to the Netherlands after graduating from Pratt Institute in 1990 with a degree in Fine Arts. Bacon has received grants from the Dutch Visual Arts Fund, and completed a number of public art commissions in the Netherlands and in 2008 in New York City for the Trust for Public Land. Recent exhibitions include One on One, Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic; Float, Scheltema Actuele Kunst, Leiden, NL; Common Ground, Lönnström Museum of Art, Rauma, Finland; and Floating World, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York City. Bacon has often worked as an artist-in-residence, most recently in the spring and summer of 2010, participating in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's residency on Governors Island. Bacon moved to the Hague, the Netherlands in 2002, where she also teaches at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

In my work I focus on issues of cultural and psychological displacement, such as migration, loss, identity and the fleeting and fragile nature of the material world. Specific environments, and a dialogue with their users or inhabitants, often serve as a point of departure for my work process.  The resulting works mainly take the form of sculptural installations but can include drawing and film as well. In my most recent work, I have been making paper models based on the intersection of natural and urban landscapes. In addition to being involved with society, my work is essentially tangible, providing the viewer with an opportunity to undergo both an aesthetic and a conceptual experience. An awareness of the transience and vulnerability of the material world is ultimately elaborated into autonomous works that can transcend a simply local or communal process.