Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Kingston University
‘We Must Live!’
9 Dec 2011 – 11 Feb 2012, Frith Street Gallery, London
1 High Definition Video:Title: We Must Live!
Duration: 30’ 29”Ratio: 16:9
2 Archival pigment photographs: Title: In Search Of A Miracle: Medical Examination Room, Lourdes 2011, Dimensions: 73 x 100 cm image size, 91 x 118 cm framed
Title: In Search Of A Miracle: Medical Committee Room, Lourdes, 2011
Dimensions: As above
4 Archival pigment photographs: Title: Santa Marta Cultural Association, As Neves 2011
Dimensions: 43 x 60 cm image size, 63 x 79 cm frame size
Title: Railway Bar, As Neves, 2011, Dimensions: As above
Title: Coffin Store, As Neves 2011, Dimensions: As above
Title: Band Rehearsal Room, As Neves 2011, Dimensions: As above
1 Velvet curtain Dimensions: 10 metres x 4 metres high
‘We Must Live[!] a video documentary film, formed the centre piece of Smith’s solo exhibition, also titled ‘We must live’, at Frith Street Gallery (09/12/2011-11/02/2012). The exhibition interrogated the question of faith and its continuing power to sustain people in moments of crisis through moving image and 6 accompanying photographs. The artwork, constituted as a visual case study, was initially inspired by Smith’s conversation with Dr Fenella Carnell, Reader in Social Anthropology of Christianity at LSE. The exhibition was curated by Gallery Director, Jane Hamlyn, who used the space (in collaboration with Smith) to reinforce the idea of art as a conduit to the unknown.
The case study examines what it means to transform private anguish into a public spectacle through ritualistic practices and the idea of ‘acting out’. Consequently, the video film, documents a secularized form of religious observance that takes place in the Spanish town, As Neves, Galicia in celebration of local patron saint of resurrection, Santa Marta. This involves individual relatives of those who have survived life threatening illnesses enacting a symbolic death by placing themselves in an open coffin, subsequently carried in a procession through the town before its occupant emerges as if reborn. Smith captures a series of local opinions regarding this event from believers, agnostics and rational sceptics including the ‘We must Live’ amateur theatre group named in defiance of the town’s association with death.
Two accompanying photographs depicted the Medical Examination and Committee Rooms at Lourdes, where miraculous recoveries from near death experiences are assessed and verified. The other four represented deserted community interiors in As Neves. In keeping with a pragmatic science, all six images were designed to convey a resounding silence which also provoked the question ‘Is anybody there[?]’ visitors were invited to contemplate upon entering the gallery space.
