Alison Smith

https://alisonsmithstudio.com/
@alison_smith_studio

Alison Smith uses portraiture as a vehicle to explore the complexities and ambiguities of the human face. With extensive research into themes of identity and face politics that ranges from the traditions of painting and drawing to automated facial recognition she works from personal experience, mediated images, and directly from life. Her series of Faces investigates and challenges perceptions surrounding the diversity of human experiences of identity. Using the process of monotype is a vital and generative space for exploration, giving Alison the ability to dismantle the forms of the face, sometimes to a point almost beyond recognition of an individual. Multiple strategies for layering images of faces build these complex and layered works, giving the viewer space to consider how faces are presented to the world and what it means to be human.