Talia Smith: Don’t be bashful, wear the flower behind your ear

A black and white photograph of a seashell and a metal clam shell, green, yellow and purple are painted over the top

Talia Smith,
From the Faded Glory series, 2022,
Digital print on matte paper,
Image courtesy of the artist

Don’t be bashful, wear the flower behind your ear is the first institutional solo exhibition by photo and moving image artist Talia Smith.

Smith explores the ebb and flow of how one connects to their culture and the ties that bind by situating her lived experience of the Pacific or Moana diaspora within the Samoan concept of the va – the space between, a space in which separate times, relationships, things, and entities are held outside of Westernised constructs. Within this exhibition there is no final answer but rather many possibilities, future imaginings, and an acknowledgement that culture is never one defined thing.

About the Artist
Talia Smith is an artist and curator from Aotearoa New Zealand and now based in Sydney, Australia. Her photographic and moving image practice explores notions of time, memory, familial histories and the way in which we connect with culture when removed from ancestral homelands. She has exhibited at various galleries in Aotearoa, Australia, Germany and the US and in 2022 she will have her first institutional show at Murray Art Museum Albury. She recently completed her Masters of Fine Arts (research) from UNSW in 2020.