Tiffany Smith
Tiffany Smith is a visual artist from the Caribbean diaspora who uses photography, video, design, and installation to create conceptually based work focused on identity, representation, cultural ambiguity, and displacement; particularly within minority communities. Her work examines individual narratives pulled from an array of multi-cultural influences, derived from her upbringing between Miami, Florida, Nassau, Bahamas, and Jamaica, and molded by her current home of Brooklyn, NY. Smith’s practice searches for new perspectives on dominant historical narratives and aims to provide insight into issues surrounding communities and how they are formed, defined, and identified.
Smith’s current works in progress react to a history of photographic representation of people of color by focusing on how identity is constructed. For Tropical Girls... presents photographic self portraits that question identity constructs and the psychological implications of iconography. Smith’s staged ethnographic survey of invented personas who author their own representations of a blended cultural heritage use her own experiences and recalled memories to create performative studies that empower reclamation of representation. A Woman, Phenomenally, collects photographic portraits that feature subjects who can be classified generally as “women of color” despite the specifics of their identity. Through a collaborative process with each woman, a constructed environment is created that empowers each subject to create an idealized image of herself that reclaims agency in “performing the other.”
Photographs from the series’ are presented within contextualizing multi-media installations, creating site specific environments that reference domestic space through cultural signifiers and decor elements recalled from Smith’s own memories of a fluid definition of home. Custom made decor items such as wallpaper, or a decorative screen wall, are paired with ready made objects and both real and artificial plants to extend the photographic plane and provide a pathway for the viewer to more deeply access the narratives of the women depicted.
Smith’s work has been exhibited internationally and throughout the United States including public art installations in Newark Penn Station through The Gateway Project and Marcus Garvey Park during Flux Art Fair, Harlem and shows at The National Gallery of Jamaica, Photoville, New York, International Photo Festival, Leiden, Netherlands, Photo NOLA, New Orleans, Long Gallery, Harlem, The Wassaic Project, and Spring Break Art Show.
Having met Tiffany at SCAD during her undergrad years and being fortunate to witness her early work & undeniable creative thirst, it is awesome to see her growth and success as a multi disciplinary artist.
Motherfstop is proud to highlight Tiffany's work with a range of images from her photo series as well as several installation shots.
Be sure to check out her website and instagram for more !
ALL IMAGES © TIFFANY SMITH
