Talia Smith
Samoan, Cook Island
About the Artist
Talia Smith is an artist and curator from Taranaki Aotearoa and is now based in Sydney, Australia. She is of Cook Island, Samoan and Pakeha heritage. Her photographic and moving image practice explores notions of time, memory, familial histories and the ties that bind. She has exhibited widely in Aotearoa and Australia and in 2021 completed her Masters of Fine Arts (Research) at the University of New South Wales. Her first institutional solo show was in 2022 at MAMA Albury titled ‘Don’t be Bashful, wear the flower behind your ear’. In 2024 she was a finalist in the NSW Visual Arts Fellowship.
Te Ara i Whiti
The sun is always setting somewhere, 2024
The sun is always setting somewhere is a series of photographs that attempts to visually describe movement – of the body, of the spirit and of the ocean. Abstracted hand movements from traditional dance are placed alongside macro textural details of shells, there is no order or structure to the reading of the series but instead a bleeding of movement, gesture and texture from one into the other. Being physically separated from ancestral homelands and the stolen land I was raised upon in Aotearoa I often feel as though I am in a constant state of movement and am searching for something to keep me grounded.
You can find “The sun is always setting somewhere” at Te Ara i whiti from October 4 – October 13, 2024 at Kelvin and Marina Park.
