Kindling: Visual Essays ,Opening Reception for Brookline Artist Smith- Garcés

The show will feature three of Ms. 

Smith-Garcés’ graphite and white charcoal essays. Ms. Smith-Garcés’ work draws you in with 

the exquisite beauty of her draftsmanship and keeps you engaged with the provocative 

juxtaposition of her beautiful illustrations with difficult subject matter.  The essay Kindling 

features gorgeous still life’s of bundles of wood floating over the words of several local mothers 

Smith-Garcés interviewed for the project. Their statements reflect on the plight of refugees from 

Darfur, Sudan and the local mother’s own relative ability to provide for their families. Each piece 

in the essay is literarily drawn from bundles of wood that the women gathered as part of the 

project. With simplicity and elegance, Smith-Garcés’ work manages to raise important global 

questions about the safety of women and the potential for violence without being over bearing.  

A second series, The Perfect Stone features seven large format drawings of rocks, each one 

unique, distinct, and beautiful to look at. In the essays framing text we learn that a man in 

Somalia who was asked to organize and carry out a stoning of a 13 year old girl pondered the 

“perfect stone” with which to carry out his task. After reflection, he explained that the perfect 

stone is about the size of a man’s first.  Not far from the drawings, Ms. Smith-Garcés is 

displaying her own pile of stones. On the floor they look harmless, and yet her images are likely 

to change the way you think about rocks forever.  

The final series in the show, Is This the Answer?, features detailed drawings of medieval torture 

devises alongside historic Western proverbs. Ms. Smith-Garcés explains, “These medieval 

instruments of torture, real and imagined, are visual comments on the state of safety for 

women in the 21st century.” While the imagery in each of the series reflects a taste for the 

classic, their presentation—finely rendered drawing suspended in the middle of rough 

toned paper—is, in some ways, quite modern and surreal, and possibly the only way to 

comprehend the questions inherent in Smith- Garcés’ art.  

Smith- Garcés explains: 

I love the flexibility and delicacy of graphite and charcoal as I work on these images. 

The drawings subtlety invite intimacy while the stories themselves can be disturbing. 

These visual essays are an attempt to recreate for the observer my own experience of 

dismay over the continued vulnerability of women in the 21st century. These series 

reflect my own struggle to understand what is senseless, while hoping to raise 

awareness for the viewer. 

Ms. Smith- Garcés received her Masters of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New 

York where she was the recipient of Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for Excellence in Art. 

This is Smith- Garcés’ first show in the Boston area. The opening reception will be on 

September 22, 2011 and the artist will be present and available for interviews. 

 This press release is courtesy of  Adam Strom (617) 277-1702, strom.adam@gmail.com