kiki smith

Her works aesthetically has a presence of feminine fantasy and fairytales whilst undermining the traditional representations of women by make artists, often using inner biological systems of females as a metaphor for hidden social issues portrayed with both a vulnerability and strength.



Nest and Trees


“My work has evolved from minute particles within the body, up through the body, and landed outside the body. Now I want to roam around the landscape.”

In pieces that merge human and animal, she creates new mythologies, finding in the mortality that has pervaded so much of her process the possibility of rebirth. In her art, Smith has staged a persistent inquiry that has resulted in works of uncommon power and beauty, inviting us to reexamine ourselves, our history, and our place in the world.

Specimen Bottles

During the destruction of my was pin pricked heart i caught the drips of melted wax into tiny specimen jars. This is something i could do for each heart in the destruction process resulting in a series of heart filled specimen bottles.

Heart Filled Jars

Destruction and Decay 

lingering in memories. 

My imaginative play. 

Blemished. 

Bruised. 

With Each day - weak. 

Months, 

Years pass

Internal wounds 

Ageing, breathing deep

in this blood filled vessel - exquisite pain. 

Seeping through these pinpricked walls

Tragedy and beauty 

does fall. 

Caught up and trapped in inside hollow jars 

for these empty eyes 

from which silent tears 

cease to cry.

LIFE CYCLE OF MATERIALS - current project (creative strategies)

 Using an animals heart to cast from i have been exploring how the heart can be used as strong visual imagery in order to represent or communicate loss, fragility of life and mortality.  The importance of my process and materials hold great significance to my childhood behaviour and the transition into adulthood. Looking at the idea of life as  cycle i have been experimenting with how to visualise the different stages in between birth and death such as youth, growth, destruction and decay in to rebirth. The materials i use are chosen specifically to the emotion or stage i am trying to portray in my work, as well as materials having a life cycle of their own. For example copper self oxidises in the air. 

Using my own personal experiences with loss i have been exploring the idea that the heart could be seen as a vessel in which the mind could be located, and that our brain a physical organ like the heart is the container of all knowledge and  logic. Therefore making the heart emotions unpredictable and the heart the greatest bearer of both physical and emotional thought. Initially i wanted to explore the idea that the heart could be in fact be imprinted with the emotional strain of life, every bruise and scar and using this idea to visualise it. But with the development of my materials i began focusing not on a final finished piece but the destruction of the beautiful work i have spent careful time and consideration making. And that through the destruction of my work i plan to use film and photography not in a documentation sense but as a media itself to portray a emotional quality which the viewer is able to experience and interpret in their own way.

In Destruction, Tragedy and Beauty are created

"My work is all about the potential of materials, even when it looks like they have lost all possibilities."

Cornelia Parker
In the course of making her work she has shot at objects, thrown them from cliffs, blown them up and rolled over them with a steam roller. Her sculptural processes have been described as mimicking cartoon deaths making her works both dramatic and delicate.

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991 (mixed Media)

Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View was originally an ordinary garden shed. Filled with junk Cornelia asked the British army to blow it up, then collected the remains and reassembled them as suspended fragments frozen as is at the moment of detonation

Recording Time

Through looking at childhood behaviour into adult hood and linking method of making and the importance of the material it occurred to me that my current project is highly associated with time.
I began researching in to the idea of how I might collaborate with time for my next project, taking what I have learnt so far in my current project (creative strategies) into the next; Pushing and developing my experimentation with materials in order for the viewer to experience there own interpretation of my work, in relation to the life cycle and our physical and unphysical connection to the world. At this point in my project I have started to question our mortality and where the mind is actually located with in the body and if in fact it can be contained at all.

On Kawara is a Japanese conceptual artist whose work is a question of survival; a matter of life and death and the existence of pure consciousness.

The Today series is an ongoing collection of conceptual paintings began in the 1960's, each created on the date indicated and in the language of the country of which it was painted. Each painting takes a whole day to create and can therefore been seen as a literal object to represent that particular day in the artists life.  His work highly reflects his separation and isolation from the world, never agreeing to be interviewed or photographed and always absent from private viewings of his work. His whereabouts and even his existence has become somewhat questionable, is he even still alive?
On kawara's art practice also includes sending daily postcards to his friends indicating the time he woke up or the fact that he is still alive referring to the "reading of days" - an ancient Japanese ritual that is practiced in order to predict the arrival of the gods.

Viewing On kawara's work, some people might be disappointed or confused by the simplicity of the works, but this is what intrigues me most, along side his seemingly self isolating persona and artistic behaviour. He continues to paint the today series yet is reluctant to be acknowledged or associated with his practice in the media. I think this holds great importance when viewing his works, is he counting down/up the days? If so to what? In his own way is he perhaps trying to control time? What’s engaging about his works is that depending on the year or time or even the viewer themselves each piece of work could be interpreted as something entirely different each time. Perhaps they are unique in the sense that when a day passes we are unable to physically experience it again. Everyone has special and memorable dates which when reminded of them or upon viewing them often thinking of a particular memory or person in time. Is On Kawara then, through creating these physical objects of time suggesting immortality? Time is often considered as precious, that we only have one life to physically live and breath but is it perhaps possible that through physicality of our minds at a particular time in relation to our connection to the world that we can in fact live forever?

BILL VIOLA

Established video as a vital form of Contemporary Art, in which he has created works including videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments and flat panel video pieces. His Works focus on the universal human experience such as birth, death and the unfolding of consciousness. Using inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memories his videos communicate to a wider audience, allowing the viewer ti experience the piece directly and in their own personal way.

Alice Maher

Her works are somewhat subversive

 but still remain highly personal. 

Her works express her own doubts 

and memories of childhood. 

Annette Messager

French Artist Annette Messager ' My Boarders' is created by knitting sweaters 

and scarves for these small dead sparrows. 

There is a deep sadness in the metaphor of knitting garments

 for these little dead birds,

Annette Messager has obtained a motherly role 

in where the sparrows act as surrogates for children.  

This piece is personal and moving in the way of Hemingway's six word story

 'For sale:baby's shoes, never worn.'

Light Night Exhibition 2011

For the light night exhibition at Leeds Public library i created a book 'doll house' type structure from within side the book without damaging the pages. At this particular point in my current project my main theme was based around childhood; exploring imaginative play along side behaviour and everyday tasks that require patience and that appear to be somewhat tedious. I also wanted to incorporate the importance of visual language and communication without the words holding much significance; reminiscing on my own memories of finding out i had dyslexia and the techniques my teacher used to help me visualise the words i had difficulties with. From using carefully thought out lighting and a 'theatre' set i was in fact able to visually communicate my imagination in a way which left viewers intrigued but also became a trigger for their own memories and imagination to take flight.