river smith Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

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My practice is a conceptually driven study of trauma using representational everyday objects rendered through drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance.

Fascinated by the way our emotional inheritance can shape our perception, I work with familiar materials and forms to draw parallels between our memories and the emotional weight objects can carry. My work operates under this basic rule: familiar and identifiable objects must be rendered unable to perform their intended function, and/or be rendered in a scale, form, or material which opposes our expectations of said objects. These objects, items of childhood and domestic life associated with care or play, are rendered uncanny through shifts in material, texture, or added elements. Their power lies in their familiarity and in the subtle dissonances introduced. The objects, largely recognisable in their forms, are distorted to expose the psychological residue of early formative experiences. I am interested in how the often invisible scripts we inherit about safety, shame, protection, and power come to shape our sense of self. Rather than assign blame, my work seeks to expose the deeper, often invisible forces that fracture human care and connection. My drawings and sculptures invite viewers into a space where these themes surface not through narrative, but through form.

RESUME

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS Artivist, Gallery Grounds, Southhampton, UK. (2025) I See You, Levenshulme Old Library, Manchester, UK. (2024) Emerging Artists, Art Collide, Digital Exhibition. (2024) Manchester School of Art MA show, The Holden Gallery, Manchester, UK Open Studios, 70 Oxford Road, Manchester, UK. (2024) Manchester Open, Home Gallery, Manchester, UK. (2024) Punk/Jazz, Micklegate Social, York, UK. (2023) Traces, Kensington, Calgary, Canada. (2018) Tertium Quid, House on the Hill, New York, USA. (2017) A September Exhibition, The Mill, New York, USA. (2017) Liverpool School of Art Degree Show, John Lennon Building, Liverpool, UK. (2016) 6 maybe 9, John Lennon Building, Liverpool, UK. (2016) B4*, The Royal Standard, Liverpool, UK. (2016) Lost, John Lennon Building, Liverpool, UK. (2015) Wrapped, Bombed out church, Liverpool, UK. (2015) Amerge, Arch Collective Gallery, London, UK. (2014) Destination, CFA, Portsmouth, UK. (2014) Temporary, CFA, Portsmouth, UK. (2013)

EDUCATION MA Fine Art, Manchester School of Art, Manchester, UK, BA (Hons) Fine Art ; Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool, UK

AWARDS Art Collide Emerging Artists’ Award, Finalist. (2024) Hilary Parker award for Art. (2010)

RESIDENCIES Artist-in-Residence, La Ira de Dios, Buenos Aires, Argentina (upcoming Aug/Sep). (2025) Artist-in-Residence, Prisma, Lisbon, Portugal (upcoming Nov/Dec). (2025) Artist-in-Residence, Arts Letters & Numbers Institute, New York, USA. (2017) ‘A Third Thing’ Residency, Arts Letters & Numbers Institute, New York, USA. (2017)

PRESS 101 Contemporary Artists, 7th Edition, Collect Artwork. (2024) Summer Issue, Vol. 47, Collect Artwork. (2024) Changing the discourse, Zine, Haus a Rest. (2024) Average art magazine. (2017)

COLLECTIVES Cakebread Workshop, Manchester, UK. (2024) Sensitif, Calgary, Canada. (2018) Amerge, London, UK. (2013)