Matters of Time

Mickey Smith

Sanderson Contemporary
Osborne Lane, 2 Kent Street
Newmarket, Auckland

Tuesday 15 September - Sunday 11 October 2020

Meet the artist on Saturday 19 September 11am-4pm (In accordance with Level 2.5 protocols, 2m social distancing will be in place - 10 people in the gallery at a time for health and safety).

In Matters of Time, Mickey Smith’s monumental photographs and wearable objects are pulled together to form a contemplative exhibition reflecting on cultural identity, present and past. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition at Sanderson.

For nearly two decades, Smith has documented bound periodicals found in public and institutional libraries which — as her artistic practice continues to evolve — have become harder to find with the rapid increase of digitisation. While the books themselves record and chronicle, so do Smith’s photographs. Portraits of book spines stand as erudite soldiers, documented as they are found in the stacks. The text and knowledge that rests between covers remains unseen and untouched, while the titles rise above their original intent, evoking a sense of intrigue.

Exhibited alongside the photographs, Smith introduces contemporary jewellery, an expansion of material use within her existing practice. Both images and objects reside together forging her continuous exploration of time and place.

Throughout the exhibition, Smith asks us to contemplate the erasure of our collective histories and knowledge, as well as the feelings of loss and grief – all of which eventually become a distant memory. She is looking to the past to make sense of the present, the evolution and life-cycle of artifacts, cultural references and documentation to understand what we as humans deem to be true, what we cherish and claim to be significant – Smith’s observations more poignant than ever in a very uncertain future.