As a practitioner I sit between artist, historian and cultural commentator, with historical and anthropological research forming the basis of much of my work. My main lines of study are uncovering or pinpointing tradition, rites, rituals, folk customs, gang cultures, protest movements and social obsessions in historical and contemporary cultures.
Specific subjects dictate the manner of research and the media I use to translate and transmit the echoes of history and relate them to the now. I also explore recounting and depiction as a part of the myth making and ambiguity of history.
I appreciates the chain that links us to our predecessors and the fundamentally unchanged reality of humanity and see the rediscovery of, and similarities between historical and contemporary events as a doorway to gaining understanding of ourselves.
Exhibitions
2019 Ecstatic Rituals. Humber Street Gallery, Hull. Commissioned work.
2019 Satellite of Love. The Fire Within, Wigan. Commissioned work.
2019 Reason Is An Impasse, Reason Is Damnation. ACE funded research project and exhibition with Faye Spencer, touring Hanover Project, Preston and Cross Street Arts, Wigan.
2018 – 2019 Lore and The Living Archive. Touring research commission working with Doc Rowe, curated by Stephanie Besford West with artists Bryony Bainbridge and Natalie Reid. Touchstones, Rochdale, Cecil Sharp House, London, The Pannet Gallery, Whitby.
2018 We Fight For The Future Of Our Nation, solo show at Wigan STEAM, Library Street Wigan.
2018 The Merry Wagtail jades, The Breeches They Do Carry, Pankhurst In The Park commissioned by Alexandra Arts and exhibited The Former Robert Miller Gallery, New York.
2018 Delight in Masques and Revels, Sometimes Altogether Imago Commission, residency & performance through Wigan Libraries.
2017 – 2018 Our House of Common Weeds curated by Nathalie Boobis. Verity Birt, Fouthland, Carl Gent, Andrea Williamson. RES. London, Newbridge Art Project, Gateshead.
Contact
Website: annafcsmith.tumblr.com
Instagram: AnnaFCSmith