I JUST LEARNED NOT TO PAY ATTENTION TO PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY KNEW BETTER.”
Rich says she loves to eavesdrop “every day, all the time” to get her phrases, with many of the choicest words coming from close to home. “It’s like analog Twitter here in the city; I can just listen outside my window and hear the best stuff. I don’t even have to try.”
Humor binds Rich’s work the way some artists have a signature palette, or brush stroke, but Rich also has the ability to transmute humor into a vehicle for action, and says she wants to incorporate that more in the near future.
“That’s inspiring to me, the idea of using my art to help generate interest in what’s going on in the world,” Rich says. “I like to use humor, and the animals I draw, to convey the messages I want to emphasize, and I feel like the animals help lighten the tone, which makes them generally more accepted.”
Rich had written a Post-It note to herself back in 2010 that said, “I am scared to be political,” a sentiment that couldn’t be further from her truth in 2025. In 2016, she ran for a local ward seat, and still helps with local politics. Most recently, she has used her artistic talents to forward local political causes by using her drawn rabbit to tell people to vote in local primary elections, and she’s created a cat who tells readers: “Trump always caves. Just say no.”
Rich says she’s also working with a group of artists in Philadelphia to spread awareness of local, national, and global political and social issues. “A lot of people don’t even know, just aren’t aware of what’s really going on,” Rich said. “They watch Fox News and think that’s real, and that’s not right.”
For some of the art Rich makes these days, she sets aside a portion of proceeds to funnel into Juntos, an organization in the Philadelphia area created to assist immigrants. “I live in a great neighborhood, just off Italian Market, and there are so many different immigrants who live here, it’s so vibrant and alive with people; I love it. If I can help in any way, I’m doing it.”
Rich says she draws inspiration from many artists these days, and if she likes to think of her text-driven art as an analog social feed she also likes to focus on creators working in analog: “Right now I admire anyone doing art made by hand! I did go and see the Nick Cave show in NYC recently, and I can’t wait to see the Amy Sherald show at the Whitney! I just love artists,” she says.
Rich says she’s also planning to be part of a group show in New Orleans in 2026. For the rest of the year, she’ll be plugging away at her illustration work, and experimenting with working with new materials, like metal, steel, and concrete.
“I just like to mess around with new material and new ideas,” Rich says. “It’s what makes it all fun.”*
This article first appeared in Hi-Fructose Issue 75, which is available in print here.