Shinique SMITH, <Gesture Ⅲ: One Great Turning 2015>, Digital video and sound, 9min. 37sec., 2015 © Shinique SMITH
Shinique SMITH
No dust, No stain
The three performance works of Shinique Smith are mainly about gestures, objects and conceptual inspiration. Her works were influenced by astrology, alchemy, mythical lyric poetry and movements of urban intersections. Created in collaboration with artist Gary Pennock, <Gesture III: One Great Turning>(2015) was filmed using aerial and ground videography in front of Smith’s mural <Seven Moon Junction>. Based on the artist’s personal history and events that influenced her life, the performance covers Smith’s paintings, large-scale installations and other performance works. It shows how she approaches the production of works and exhibition presentations well. She describes her childhood saying that ‘when she was a little girl, I learnt of the Sufi whirling dervishes, and in my innocence, I tried to dance like them. I would spin in the backyard in the hood in Baltimore until my mind was freed.’This experience of Smith served as the starting point of the project which expresses and expands the hypnotized movements of dancers in mural paintings. The dancers in the work wear costumes Smith made by drawing on parasols and large silk clothes. KAIROS Dance Company, which also had an idea similar to Smith’s, followed the spontaneity of her insight and contributed to the creation of this fascinating and dynamic collaborative work by adding some of the movements extracted from their existing work ‘Her’. Gary Pennock’s professional editing technologies and composition added perfection to the manifestation of Smith’s ideas in this work.
