TALIA SMITH
’MONUMENTS TO MOMENTS’
17 JANUARY – 23 FEBRUARY, 2019
( L-R) Talia Smith, Moment I, inkjet print on matte paper., Edition of 4 + AP, 2018. Moment II, Inkjet print on matte paper, Edition of 4 + AP, 2018. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“I carry the landscape inside of me like an ache”
- Owain Jones
Monuments to moments was a solo exhibition of new photographic and video work from my research into the landscape and memory. This project will use geological sites such as Bombo Headland Quarry in Kiama, NSW to investigate the physical and emotional traces and marks that are left behind from human interaction.
Talia Smith, (detail), Collective Moments, found objects, plaster casts, original lumen prints, plywood, 2018. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
For as long as I can remember I have always felt drawn to the land, being physically away from my homeland of New Zealand, perhaps I am looking to make connections to somewhere that I do not lay claim to. Or maybe it is that with the passing of time we are always quick to forget what was there before, what stories were told, what secrets were whispered. It is now becoming impossible to talk about land without mentioning the Anthropocene, the new age that man has created through the ruin we are creating.
Talia Smith, (detail), Collective Moments, found objects, plaster casts, original lumen prints, plywood, 2018. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
The remains of the Bombo Headland Quarry are an example of the ruins of what we have left behind. The ocean has claimed parts of it and every day the rocks are eroded until maybe one day it will not exist. With this project I am interested in exploring the concept of the emotional landscape, rather an internal query I am looking to the physical landscapes we have ruined to pull out the emotional leftovers.
Talia Smith, Moment III, inkjet print on matte paper, Edition of 4 + AP, 2018. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
The leftovers that make my heart ache when I come across certain landscapes, that make me think about grass stained knees and stubbed toes or how I scrawled my name in the wet concrete of my family home that is now owned by strangers or the faces of lovers and the last goodbyes. Or the smell of the ocean in ones hair even though you are stuck inland with no sea in sight.
Monuments to moments explores physical and psychological connections to land, time and memory and looks to visually articulate the delicate and difficult act of living.
Talia Smith, “Monuments to moments”, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
Talia Smith, “Monuments to moments”, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
Talia Smith, “Monuments to moments”, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.