Sally Smart In Her Nature installation view Breenspace, Sydney, Australia (2011)
In Her Nature points to the natural world. The phrase, in her nature, suggests a temperament, a characteristic of personality, an inclination, a leaning, a movement. With associations to the work of early modernist artists like Lyubov Popova and Sonia Delaunay, In Her Nature is a choreographed installation made of individual works, cut-outs, human figures hybridized with natural elements (trees, insects and flowers) assembled on a pale grid-like pattern of thin architectural lines, which define and map space, informed from a photographic image of Isamu Noguchi’s sculptural stage set for a Martha Graham performance.
Sally Smart's large-scale assemblages and wall tableaux are typically made up of felt, canvas, silk-screened elements and everyday fabric. A long-term interest of Smart's is representations of feminine identity. Smart's process-oriented practice involves cutting, collage, photo-montage, staining, sewing, stitching and pinning, all of which have historical and political associations with the traditional activities of women. Smart characteristically subverts these hierarchies and her methodology of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction in the installation space are integral to the conceptual unfolding of her work.
Sally Smart In Her Nature,
Installation view, Breenspace Sydney,2011
Sally Smart Argument (In Her Nature),2010
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas and fabric with collage elements,
183cm x 91cm