Tania Lou Smith
Curation as a form of drawing research gathers quietly, taking shape through the cross-conversation of artists, works, writing and thought. Testing the bounds of drawing, this practice proceeds iteratively, allowing meaning and knowledge to form gradually over time — still provisional, still forming.
Tania Lou Smith / MOVING FREELY
6 – 30 July, 2023 — DRAW Space gallery
Curator — Belinda Yee
"The invitation to place my work in the context of drawing was irresistible." — Tania Lou Smith
In Tania Lou Smith's photographic works, part vaudeville, part feminist inquiry, she uses her body and its comedic potential to transgress cultural binaries. The bold colours in Smith's work, the animated figure-in-context and the graphic composition of the images, belie the political and psychological content of the work and the weightier autobiographical themes explored.
To initiate this exhibition, I gave Smith the provocation – how is your performance practice drawing? This curatorial reframing enabled Smith to look afresh at her practice while testing and extending the way drawing is understood. In response, Smith developed a new body of work for the exhibition MOVING FREELY which for DRAW Space, initiated a conversation around the idea of movement as drawing.
The exhibition, MOVING FREELY, has became the starting point for a number of events scheduled for 2024 which extend the idea of movement as drawing. As a whole I think of these exhibitions and events as an ongoing research project.
Written by Belinda Yee.
Artist talk - Tania Lou Smith in conversation with curator, Belinda Yee at DRAW Space, 8 July, 2023.