The Great Gaggle
Contract Artist
June 2021 - September 2021
Ahead of the Student Life Centre’s (SLC) reopening, my design was one of several installed in the building’s new expansion. After responding to a call for submissions in June, my proposal was chosen for the Black and Gold Room. I finalized the design in collaboration with the project’s committee. The project concluded with its installation in September, 2021.
Titled The Great Gaggle, the piece began as a digital drawing that celebrated campus community and student diversity. The design was produced as a vinyl print and applied to a glass divider by Sign Language Inc. The installation measures 4 feet tall and 22 feet long. The project is situated on the second floor of the SLC.
The Great Gaggle inspired a second installation, The Pride Flock. In celebration of Pride month, I collaborated with the University of Waterloo’s Marketing and Strategic Initiatives team to create a colourful and interactive installation on campus. Throughout June 2023 and 2024, these flocks of vibrant Canadian geese landed on campus grounds to show off their true colours. The design was also a part of the University’s Pride merchandise collection.
Media Coverage
@yourwusa 🎨 Meet Rachel Jung (@itsracheljung), a current undergrad student in the Fine Arts Studio program. You may have seen some of their work already as they have illustrated and designed for UW Imprint (@uwimprint) and the Student Success Office (@uwaterloolife).
🖼️ The new SLC building will be featuring one of their artworks, titled The Great Gaggle. It celebrates campus community and student diversity and draws from their experience working, commuting, and relaxing in the SLC and PAC. They wanted to capture the feelings of excitement and togetherness that these locations evoke.
At the heart of this piece are the geese, the infamous symbol of our school culture. The gaggle also conveys the idea that regardless of our backgrounds, we are all deserving of inclusion within the #UWaterloo community. This artwork is full of references to different faculties and campus activities, allowing the onlooker to find new details with each viewing.
Keep an eye out for their piece of artwork the next time you visit SLC! 👀
Article excerpt by Abhiraj Lamba
Rachel Jung, a third-year fine arts and business student, has always liked many different art forms— music, writing and more. However, it wasn’t until later in high school that they started taking more fine arts courses and spent their free time drawing. Jung has also been exploring digital art through co-op.
“There’s a saying — write about what you know, and it’s talking in terms of literature or written work, but I think that has everything to do with art in general,” Jung said. “I think art is a great medium to reflect on what interests you. Not just visually, but thematically and identity wise.”
For the SLC/PAC expansion, they are working on a piece called The Great Gaggle. It will be a two meter tall, seven meter long vinyl printed piece that will go across a glass divider in the new black and gold room. The piece will have over 300 geese, each in their own bubble, interacting with each other in ways that are both conscious and subconscious. Jung says that The Great Gaggle showcases how we’re all part of this bigger community, even if it’s something that we might not necessarily actively engage with.
Jung’s inspiration comes from their experience of being in the SLC — eating snacks, studying, playing. They have also drawn inspiration from their larger experience of being a student here at Waterloo and finding their own identity in the other people around them, even strangers.