STATEMENT
We live in a constant dialogue between memory and our experiences of the present. Kirsty E Smith’s practice draws on a passion for architecture and the optimism of Futurism.
As humans we have a fundamental need to make sense of the world and our place in it. Our experiences come into the brain in a vast flow of neural impulses from the eye, the ear, the tongue, skin and so on. Smith’s intention is to create work which resonates on a deeply emotive level and which acts as a vehicle to reconnect with a ‘place’ or memory deep in our subconscious. Frillip Moolog is the name that she has given to such a place.
Kirsty E Smith works at the hinge of different worlds: between that of vintage Sci-Fi and the domestic and everyday, and there is a disarming sense of playfulness in what she makes.
She works with an eclectic range of materials to fabricate her strangely anthropomorphic sculptures: they are vessels that hold and suggest many ideas simultaneously, being rich with history and narrative, both in a personal and more general sense.
Through photography, the beings are sometimes set within specific landscapes, such that there is a strong sense of procession, pageantry and folklore. In her video meanwhile, incongruous sound bites are intended to surprise, entertain and layer meaning, drawing the viewer into her idiosyncratic 'alternative' world.