Artist Kiki Smith, whose work is currently on display in the Block Museum of Art, visited the Northwestern campus Thursday night to speak with Madeleine Grynsztejn, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, in a conversation-style presentation.
Grynsztejn and Smith spoke about Smith’s artistic process, her inspirations and her history.
Smith has had an expansive career, Grynsztejn said, but this show, titled “I Myself Have Seen It,” is the first to focus on her photography. It features photographs of Smith’s sculptures as well as photographs inspired by nature and fairy tales.
“The camera’s been a constant companion for you from the beginning,” Grynsztejn said.
Smith said photography has been a good way for her to have a memory.
“Cameras allow you to indulge in framing reality,” Smith said. “It’s really about play because you get to choose and frame and control it. It’s so fetishizing and perverse in a way, being able to capture or cut reality.”
Judy Koon, director of Educational Programs for the Block Museum, said she thought the conversation was fabulous.
“We were lucky to get both of them,” Koon said, because the two women both have extremely busy schedules.
Koon said it is important for students to see how an artist’s thoughts evolve and how there are parallels between an artist’s work and other fields.
Weinberg junior Matt Kluk, web director for the Northwestern Art Review, said he has known of Smith’s work for a long time.
“It’s a unique opportunity to hear an artist talk about their work,” he said.
Grynsztejn spoke to Smith about her background as an artist, pointing out that Smith trained as an EMT earlier in her life. Smith found her preoccupation with anatomy was stronger than any desire to work as an EMT.
“We had to do emergency room hours,” Smith said. “I remember somebody lying in the hallway with a big knife wound, and I was like, ‘Ooh, the insides and the outsides, that’s so interesting.’ I could care less about them dying … you don’t usually see the insides and the outsides together.”
The largest gallery in the exhibition is devoted to photographs of Smith’s sculptures. Grynsztejn asked Smith what the photographs meant to her.
“It’s like your heart in it,” Smith said. “You can show what you care about.”
