The Silhouettes, terra-cotta clay female figures, are representations of battered souls. With deeply formed impressions, utilizing intuitive forces and thoughtful emotions, each of the silhouettes’ uniquely defined feminine forms are exposed, reminiscent of the innards of sarcophagi, or a mollusk without shelter, a topo map of the soul.

Smith’s interest to work this series in clay came about because to her, the clay embodies a likeness, rawness, a vulnerability closely representative to the self.   Using her hands, her fingers, and her breath, she pushes boundaries of material generating a build inspired by the soul who’s unable to recover from life’s punches.  As she’s applying emotional chaos and physical pressure to each Smith’s narrative of battered souls emerges.