Maxima Smith ~ Keywords: mirroring, (monstrous) feminine, authenticity, the double, nostalgia, roles, backstage/frontstage, repetition, boundaries, mimicry, somatic processing, abjection, reality TV, performative gender, ritual, personal/political, unionisation, collective action, artists as workers, institutional critique, projectariat
Maxima Smith (b. 1992, UK) is an artist, researcher and activist who lives and works in London. Smith's work, primarily based in moving image, examines the mediation of the camera, somatic processing, and is influenced by the slippage between sincerity and absurdity. She questions feminine archetypes and roles, critiquing gendered acts such as mimicry to reinforce the performativity of gender. Smith situates much of her work in the blurred boundary between "on” and “off-stage,” where questions arise of how we act and perform ourselves. Her films are often shown on loop, and in installation, in order to emphasise the rhythmic and ritualistic qualities which reappear throughout her work.
In parallel, Smith holds a position on the board of executives of Artists Union England, and works with a large number of (grassroots) initiatives and organisations to publicly make the case for increased cultural funding, as well as interrogating and working towards changing the poor working conditions in the (art) world.
She holds a BA from the Slade School of Fine Art in London (2016) and an MA in Art Praxis from the Dutch Art Institute (2023). Selected exhibitions include: Invisible Goddess, Venice (2023), Visions in the Nunnery The Nunnery Gallery, London, (2022, 2020, 2018); Ode to a Window Cleaner, The Clarence, London, (2021) (solo); Re-enchanted Matter, APT Gallery, London (2020); To all our absent dialogues, 155a Gallery, London (2020); Pixelache2019 Oranssi, Helsinki, (2019); Puppet Portraits, The French House, London (2019) (solo); Ode to a Window Cleaner, The People's Palace, London (2019) (solo).
In parallel, Smith holds a position on the board of executives of Artists Union England, and works with a large number of (grassroots) initiatives and organisations to publicly make the case for increased cultural funding, as well as interrogating and working towards changing the poor working conditions in the (art) world.
She holds a BA from the Slade School of Fine Art in London (2016) and an MA in Art Praxis from the Dutch Art Institute (2023). Selected exhibitions include: Invisible Goddess, Venice (2023), Visions in the Nunnery The Nunnery Gallery, London, (2022, 2020, 2018); Ode to a Window Cleaner, The Clarence, London, (2021) (solo); Re-enchanted Matter, APT Gallery, London (2020); To all our absent dialogues, 155a Gallery, London (2020); Pixelache2019 Oranssi, Helsinki, (2019); Puppet Portraits, The French House, London (2019) (solo); Ode to a Window Cleaner, The People's Palace, London (2019) (solo).
