SHINIQUE SMITH

Torque, 2024 - Detail

Custom printed and hand-painted textiles, found hubcaps, hula hoops, ribbon, rope, yarn and sound 

Installation view - Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

Torque, 2024

Custom printed and hand-painted textiles, found hubcaps, hula hoops, ribbon, rope, yarn and sound 

Installation view - Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

On View July 19, 2024 - June 29, 2025

Torque, 2024

Custom printed and hand-painted textiles, found hubcaps, hula hoops, ribbon, rope, yarn and sound 

Installation view - Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields

On View July 19, 2024 - June 29, 2025

acrylic, ink, fabric, mirror, yarn, faux bird and collage on canvas

74 x 108 x 4 inches

acrylic, ink, marker, fabric and collage on canvas over wood panel

48 x 36 x 3 in
121.9 x 91.4 x 7.6 cm

Acrylic, ink, fabric and collage on canvas

84 x 60 x 3 in
213.4 x 152.4 x 7.6 cm

Acrylic, ink, crayon, fabric, collage, yarn and ribbon on canvas

72 x 72 x 4 inches

Acrylic, ink, graphite, crayon, fabric, collage and acrylic mirror on canvas

84 x 60 x 5 in
213.4 x 152.4 x 12.7 cm

Signage for Shinique Smith : Parade at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida

On view December 16, 2023 - January 5, 2025

Blue Unity (Ode to a Black Star), 2023

Artist’s custom fabric, sequins, aerial silk, and ribbon, and sound piece

Scale variable

This installation incorporates sheer scarf-like banners with my custom textile designs that mix imagery from my bundling performances and calligraphic works, along with aerialist silk and sequined fabrics inspired by Gilded Age society affairs and circus performers’ costumes.

I was also inspired by articles and images of the beloved performer Alice Ruth Clark Brown (1952–2021), the first African American woman to work as a dancer, elephant rider and aerial acrobat with the Ringling Brothers Circus. This variable work is a visualized poem performed in the air of this monumental gallery. To accompany the experience and lightness of the banners, I’ve created a sound collage of imagined sounds from Brown’s performances merged with actual breathing sequences from my Breathing Room performance works. The rhythms and sounds permeate the room on a loop to transport the viewer, while celebrating the spirit of Brown’s journey and the resilience and magnanimity of Black women.

Installation view Shinique Smith : Parade

Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida

On view December 16, 2023 - January 5, 2025

Grace stands beside, 2020 and Stargazer, 2022

Fabric, clothing, dye, ribbon, rope and polyfil with wood

Installation view Shinique Smith : Parade

Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida

On view December 16, 2023 - January 5, 2025

Stargazer, 2022

Denim, cotton, sequined mesh, ribbon, wood, rope, dye, marker, acrylic, poly and down

In researching the history of indigo in the US and its connections to the African slave trade, I discovered that slave prisons were strategically placed in our nation’s capital, not far from where I grew up and very to near the last stops on the Underground Railroad. Stargazer imagines the arduous journey of slaves and ancestors attempting to cross north to freedom and looking to the stars for guidance and prayer.

The North Star and the rest of the asterism known as the “celestial gourd” (Big Dipper), are held sacred by many indigenous people from Africa to the Americas. These same stars guided explorers across the planet, as well as colonists and slave ships to these shores. The marks on Stargazer are prayers for freedom and symbols denoting the counting of days, and resemble tattoos or scars etched in our collective unconscious memory for all time. Stargazer was made as a reminder that we have all made wishes on the same stars with the hope that we, as a people, will honor each other and the arduous journeys of our ancestors.

On view Ringling Musuem

December 16, 2023 - January 5, 2025

Mitumba Deity II, 2018/2022

Clothing, vintage textiles, ribbon and rope, turquoise and aventurine beads, pearls, blown glass and fabric garlands, and Vernessia Smith’s antique dresser

Mitumba Deity II (2018/2023) is a contemporary Goddess form presiding over and permeating the spaces she inhabits like an oracle, tethered with ribbon, personal clothing, and vintage textiles. In central Africa the word “mitumba” refers to used clothing, often baled into cubes, imported to Africa from western nations.

Perched on an antique dresser, Mitumba Deity II is adorned in gemstones and pearls, some of which were passed among the women in my family. I chose fabrics that contained patterns and motifs that cross time and cultures. The work was inspired by my grandmother, Vernessia, from whom I inherited this beautiful Euro-style dresser as well as other furnishings, and whose decorative sensibilities and fabrics have been embedded in my works for two decades. I know that she would have loved to see the belongings that she treasured on display and in conversation within the feminine elegance of the Astors’ Creme Salon.

Installation view Shinique Smith : Parade

Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida

On view December 16, 2023 - January 5, 2025

Heirlooms & Drawings, 2023

Fabric and ceramic sculptures, framed photographs of the artist and her relatives, keepsakes, rings, glass jars with vintage jewelry, drawings, and collage

Scale variable

Installation view - Parade at The Ringling Museum

Photographs of beloved women from my family (my aunts Dorothy, Barbara, Jean; my cousin, Lepena; my mother, Vkara; my grandmother, Vernessia; and my great-grandmother, Guillo), both living and passed on, dressed for special occasions and moments of achievement. I grew up looking at these images in awe of the strength, style, and beauty of these women. They are my role models, framed in gold and encased in glass. Along with images of me on my wedding day in a dress that my mother designed for me, and from my Breathing Room performances, these snapshots are placed with honor and status alongside the mostly male portraits of the wealthy housed within the museum's collections.

Intimately scaled and arranged in reminiscence of treasures admired during my childhood, which stood on my grandmother’s dresser and on the piano that we used as a mantel, this collection of keepsakes, sculptures, drawings, collage, and ideas for future works represents a lineage of Black women and a timeline of quiet dreams and imaginings.

Detail image of Heirlooms & Drawings, 2023

Fabric and ceramic sculptures, framed photographs of the artist and her relatives,

keepsakes, rings, glass jars with vintage jewelry, drawings, and collage

Photographs of beloved women from my family (my aunts Dorothy, Barbara, Jean; my cousin, Lepena; my mother, Vkara; my grandmother, Vernessia; and my great-grandmother, Guillo), both living and passed on, dressed for special occasions and moments of achievement. I grew up looking at these images in awe of the strength, style, and beauty of these women. They are my role models, framed in gold and encased in glass. Along with images of me on my wedding day in a dress that my mother designed for me, and from my Breathing Room performances, these snapshots are placed with honor and status alongside the mostly male portraits of the wealthy housed within the museum's collections.

Intimately scaled and arranged in reminiscence of treasures admired during my childhood, which stood on my grandmother’s dresser and on the piano that we used as a mantel, this collection of keepsakes, sculptures, drawings, collage, and ideas for future works represents a lineage of Black women and a timeline of quiet dreams and imaginings.

Grace Stands Beside, 2020

Garments, denim and fabrics, bleach, dyes, ribbon, rope, foam, and wood

As a young artist growing up in Baltimore, studying at the Baltimore School for the Arts and then the Maryland Institute College of Art, I practiced figure drawing by sketching the public sculptures that punctuate the city’s landscape. As an adult, I discovered how many of these historic monuments contain histories of slavery and racism hiding in plain sight in the form of beautiful sculptures.

Grace Stands Beside draws its title from an inscription—“Glory Stands Beside Our Grief”—on the base of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument that once stood on my college campus, erected by the Maryland Daughters of the Confederacy in 1903 and removed by Baltimore City in 2017. I was compelled to create my own deity-like figure in relationship to my layered feelings and memories of the bronze.

Incorporating vintage fabrics and quilted garments contributed by my family, friends, and acquaintances who reside in Baltimore, this sculpture is a monument to grace, defined as a complex state of being that Black people and others who have endured tragic prejudice have embodied to survive and to rise beyond.

The tears streamed, but inside she was a festival, 2022􀀏􀀃􀀕􀀓􀀕􀀕 􀀁􀀂􀀃􀀄􀀅􀀆􀀂􀀇􀀈􀀉􀀃􀀊􀀋􀀌􀀆􀀍􀀎􀀇􀀈􀀂􀀃

Acrylic, granite, crayon, fabric, mirror, collage and ribbon on canvas

84 x 84 x 5 Inches􀀁􀁆􀁋􀁈􀁖􀀃􀁈􀁖􀀃

Acrylic, collage, fabric, mirrored Dibond on wood panel

252 x 96 x 3 Inches

Installation view: Indelible Marks with UBS Lounge, ABMB

Inflamed by Golden Hues of Love, 2019

Fabric, garments, ribbon, rope, poly-fil and wood

76 x 28 x 26 in
193 x 71.1 x 66 cm

and

Codex, 2019

Acrylic, calligraphy inks, coffee ink, fabric,

objects and collage on wood panel

96 x 96 x 4 Inches

UBS Art Collection

Aerialist performance view: MOCA Jacksonville, Florida -On view March 19th through June 16th, 2016

Ink, acrylic, fabric and collage on mirrored dibond and 30 hanging bundles of clothing, fabric, ribbon and rope

Site specific Installation – View: 40 ft high x 22 ft. wide x Approx. 20 ft. depth

Scale Variable

Installation view: Project Atrium: Shinique Smith

MOCA Jacksonville, Florida / March 19th - June 16th, 2016

Ink, acrylic, fabric and collage on mirrored dibond and 30 hanging bundles of clothing, fabric, ribbon and rope

Site specific Installation –

View: 40 ft high x 22 ft. wide x Approx. 20 ft. depth

Scale Variable

Installation view Stony Island Arts Bank

Installation view Hauser + Wirth LA

Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947 - 2016

Installation view Hauser + Wirth LA

Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947 - 2016

First Born of the Child’s Sunrise, 2016

Mixed media acrylic

72 x 180 x 10 inches

Enoch Pratt Free Library Collection, Baltimore

Glass and ceramic mosaic, laminated glass Graced with exuberant brush strokes and a vibrant collage, Mother Hale’s Garden created by Shinique Smith is inspired by the loving and generous nature of Mother Clara Hale who, for more than 50 years, cared for children -- orphaned, sick and from broken homes -- and helped transform their lives. Totaling approximately 6,672 square feet, the monumental artwork is composed of mosaic located on the façade and laminated glass in windows of the new Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot building located on Lenox Avenue between 146th and 147th Street in Central Harlem. Shinique Smith collected clothing, fabric and other cast-off materials from the community surrounding Hale House and the Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot t

Glass and ceramic mosaic, laminated glass Graced with exuberant brush strokes and a vibrant collage, Mother Hale’s Garden created by Shinique Smith is inspired by the loving and generous nature of Mother Clara Hale who, for more than 50 years, cared for children -- orphaned, sick and from broken homes -- and helped transform their lives. Totaling approximately 6,672 square feet, the monumental artwork is composed of mosaic located on the façade and laminated glass in windows of the new Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot building located on Lenox Avenue between 146th and 147th Street in Central Harlem. Shinique Smith collected clothing, fabric and other cast-off materials from the community surrounding Hale House and the Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot t

Bale Variant No. 0025 (Etta Parthenia’s Treasure), 2018

Clothing, fabric, fabric dye, bleach, and ribbon on wood frame

Private Collection

This bale was created as a portrait of one beloved woman and an ode to her tastes for garments and accessories. The subject of this portrait bale, who is obviously a tastemaker, collaborated with me on this work by offering access to her closet. I chose beaded and sequined gowns, studded bags, and richly colored patterns to compose a work that would provide an insight into the vibrant energy of Etta. The collection contained in this bale variant also relates to the idea of striving to “dress your best” and to “dress to the nines”—goals shared by earlier generations and romanticized by Hollywood glamor. This work and the others placed in these period rooms embody the spirit and sparkle of the Gilded Age.

Secret Garden, Laughing Place, 2011

Installation view - New Children’s Museum, San Diego, CA

Secret Garden, Laughing Place, 2011

Installation view - Sugar Hill Children’s Museum, Harlem, NY

Secret Garden, Laughing Place, 2011

Installation view - New Children’s Museum, San Diego, CA

Shinique Smith: Menagerie 2010 Survey Catalogue

Installation view MOCA North Miami

Shinique Smith: Menagerie 2010 Survey

Installation view MOCA North Miami

No Dust, No Stain,

Nerman Museum of Art Collection

Installation view, 10 x Myself at Yvon Lambert, New York

Rubell Collection

Mitumba Deity, 2005 - Collection of Brooklyn Museum of Art

Menagerie, 2005 - Rubell Collection