Barbara Smith

Installation, AG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Barbara Smith works in both an autobiographical and a narrative form, drawing intensely on personal experiences which are told and retold, playing with the relationship between the personal and tragic and the real and emotive. This retelling encompasses both a multimedia and tactile intimacy with an emphasis on the ideas of storytelling and collection. She creates a distinctly unique narrative by weaving together easily recognizable texts with her own voice. Barbara tells these multilayered stories through the collecting of nostalgic objects and an examination of the significance of family imagery, finding a sense of self that was formed by both personal and collective experiences. The fabricated and found objects and imagery become indistinguishable. In places, her hand’s work becomes less apparent because those experiencing her art are struck by these relics in a way that causes recognition. Barbara Smith obtained her B.A. in 2003, graduating with distinction in both Art Education and Fine Arts at Purdue University, while also studying at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Barbara obtained her Master of Arts in Photography and Related Media with a secondary emphasis in Metalsmithing at Purdue University in 2005. She has exhibited nationally and has been an instructor for such classes as basic drawing, basic 2-D design, photography, and metalsmithing.