Alec Smith (b. 1991) is a Kansas native born and raised. Holding his BFA from the University of Kansas, Smith is an artist who works primarily with photography. A majority of his bodies of work flesh out into book form. Central to his practice is exploring love, death, time, place, dimensions, and the sensation of belief that can be experienced within a photograph. Alec has been a part of numerous group shows around Kansas and Missouri. While living in Kansas City he was an active member of Archive Collective who provides opportunities for the community to engage with photography by hosting group critiques, gallery visits, artist talks, local and traveling exhibitions, studio visits, and meet-ups. In 2016 Archive Collective received a Rocket Grant from the Charlotte Street foundation for an art book publishing project. In 2017 Alec moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he currently lives and works.
I wish you love and happiness
One of the surest axioms of science is that energy never dies. Within a photograph the elliptical narrative is contained and can be revisited. It is not reality. It is not memory. It is ideas of existence.
Growing up with my dad as a taxidermist, I was simultaneously surrounded by death and preservation. With his passing of cancer in 2014 I began using photography to interact in the preservation of his death.
Unbalanced emotions of fear and love pursue the comprehension of the loss of my dad. What does death mean? Why are we desensitized in viewing it? Yet, at the same time, it goes unmentioned how it surrounds us?
Attempts at communication between dimensions of physical and mental. These photographs are how I allow the subconscious to communicate with the conscious in processing the grief of loss.
To view more of Alec’s work please visit his website.