ARTIST STATEMENT

Whether I was aware of it or not, the question: “Are we kind of a man or mankind?”, has been at the center of my artistic practice since its inception. Often grappling with the reduction of my humanity to a race, class, and gender, I collapse these concepts through still and moving images as a mode of critique and to reimagine my identity through my own gaze.

BIO

C. Rose Smith (b. 1995, Memphis, TN), is a visual artist examining the role of photography in constructing the facets of identity and individuality. Using fashion, site-specificity and elements gleaned from studio-portraiture, her photographs engender a subversive performance that gestures a critique of social norms.

Smith’s work has been featured in group exhibitions at Hangar Arts Center in Brussels, BE; FotoFest Biennial, Houston, TX; Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio, TX; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA; and Tula Art Center at Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA. Her recent achievements include the Prix Picto De La Mode Paris, FR; Coup de Coeur Award with Leica Gallery Paris, FR; Inaugural Silver List for Emerging Photographers and was a finalist for the Aperture Magazine Portfolio Review Prize.