We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Bosworth recently and have shared our conversation below.

Taylor, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I think first, moving to LA from the east coast with no real direction of work or how I would support myself was one of my biggest risks in life and during covid I might add. Then being presented with an opportunity to open a gallery with no prior experience was the other biggest risk I ever took. Being able to find the strength and confidence to believe in myself, all while at times feeling like I have no idea what the f*ck I am doing. To dare to fail and so publicly, because I would rather risk it all than not try at all. These two experiences have proven to me that I am much stronger than I think I am.

Taylor, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I went to school or painting and art history and was working for myself before I embarked on Raking Light Gallery. I moved to Los Angeles from Philadelphia in the middle of covid. I had no idea what I was going to do for work, I just knew I needed a geographical change after living in Philadelphia for almost a decade. Upon moving here I got an opportunity to be featured in Inked Magazine modeling. I quickly found myself getting asked to do a lot of things tattoo related. It felt like happenstance to meet Andrew Fingerhut, who had started Raking Light Projects ten years ago. He was operating solely as an independent publisher, publishing books and prints solely to do with tattooers and tattoo art from all over the world. We decided to open up a gallery/ store front together in September of 2021. Originally I thought I would just be curating and running the space, but Andrew quickly made me his business partner. I had no previous experience running or curating a gallery. I had no real plans to do any of these things. It is really wild how life happens when you remain completely open to becoming a witness to all of its unfolding. I personally love tattoo culture; I am heavily adorned, and I am an oil painter. It has become clear that my personal passion for these things would suddenly be fused together. Now, two years later, the gallery is becoming well known and we are booked out with shows every month until 2025. We are still publishing books, making archival prints and apparel, and other speciality items. Just to give an example of a specialty item, we linked up with a man in Nepal and have created hand-knotted rugs with selected art from tattooers. And we have embarked on some new things that are more community based as well, such as, oil painting classes from a local tattooer/artist. We have shows every month with a different artist, that we hand select from all over the world, where we showcase original artwork. The last couple of months we showed art from Spain, New Mexico, Oregon, the UK and Japan. It is important for us to try and show a wide variety of art and artists with many different styles and from different cultures. I truly feel we have found our niche, and I hope that we continue to expand and grow for many years to come.

I am beyond honored to be apart of something that feels so important. To be able to try and fuse tattoo culture with the fine art world, all while preserving tattoo culture. We aim to bring awareness to the tradition, styles and different cultures that has paved the way for so many artists in general today; not just tattoo artists.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is creating itself. It is the only thing I feel that is solely yours. The thing that you can simultaneously find yourself and lose yourself in. Creating helps me process my emotions and connect to myself in a way nothing else can. It is also a way to connect and relate to others.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My sobriety of 9 1/2 years is a good example of my resilience. Drinking and drugs helped me cope with life or rather not cope with anything. I used to use to avoid feeling. I have always been an over thinker and always felt like an outsider as long as I can remember. During my 6th year of sobriety my boyfriend died unexpectedly. I had experienced death in my life before, but never so intimately. We lived together. This happened two weeks before covid hit. To experience losing my partner and then the world shutting down simultaneously was one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced. A year after this I moved to Los Angeles. To then remain sober on top of everything was another. I wanted to give up on life several times during this time and some how I did not. I look at my life now and it’s better than I could have ever imagined. I am glad that I held on and vowed to not let that experience stop me from living.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rakinglightprojects.com
• Instagram: @rakinglightgallery @rakinglightprojects @taylorleemade