Sophie Smith

Instagram: @sophie.danger.smith

Website: http://www.sophiedangersmith.com

Bio: Sophie Smith (b. 1999, Los Angeles) is a mixed-media sculptor based in Oakland, California. Smith graduated from California College of The Arts in 2022 receiving her BFA in sculpture. She has had work in shows in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The upcoming group exhibition Hunter Gather at 120710, opening June 29th, will mark her curatorial debut.

Statement: She considers herself a hunter, gatherer, forager, and thief: Her practice is an intricate dance of collecting, obtaining, stealing, and rescuing. Smith compulsively amasses trash, treasures, ephemera, mementos, souvenirs, trophies, and consolation prizes, viewing these objects as fragments of a forgotten story. She attempts to create homes for abandoned pieces, elevating their status through material juxtaposition and context so they can share their story. The items she collects act as pieces of encrypted messages, thoughtfully grouped and arranged to reveal a message greater than its individual pieces. Smith is drawn to this means of communication for its shielded vulnerability, truths hidden through a code and a cipher. She likens it to a young girl divulging all their secrets in a lock-protected diary, a sense of safety and security created by a flimsy crackable lock.