Smith’s playful use of language and scale transcend the spines on which they appear to create conceptual, anthropological works, which document a significant moment in time, and indeed in Aotearoa’s history.
Sanderson are pleased to present a new solo exhibition by Mickey Smith - New Outlook. This new body of work is a continuation of Smith’s ongoing project Volume, which documents bound periodicals and journals in public libraries.
Smith’s photography is a striking and poignant reflection of contemporary times through her documentation of simple, provocative titles found on library shelves around the world, and most recently in Aotearoa’s libraries.
New Outlook explores the current atmosphere of post-pandemic Aotearoa. The books she has documented are not touched, artificially lit or manipulated — rather composed by the librarian and found by the artist in stacks — left as positioned by the last reader. Smith’s playful use of language and scale transcend the spines on which they appear to create conceptual, anthropological works, which document a significant moment in time, and indeed in Aotearoa’s history.
With titles including NEW OUTLOOK, LIFE, FORTUNE, TODAY and TRANS TASMAN, Smith considers how the pandemic has highlighted Aotearoa’s unique, isolated position as an island, as well as capturing a state of mind, which the artist describes as an ongoing sense of disorder and impermanence, contrasted by an optimism for the future.
Smith’s work continuously explores the state of entropy within libraries, as we witness information systems shift, digitize and collections become deaccessioned. As a homage to the now defunct University of Auckland Architecture Library the artist has included never before seen titles FORM, BUILDING and MONUMENT in the show.
NEW OUTLOOK also reflects Smith’s ongoing investigation into New Zealand culture as an American living here for over a decade. This exploration is reflected in titles AMERICAN GIRL, CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW ZEALAND and MANA.
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