C. Rose Smith is an American photographer whose practice is a powerful tool for questioning societal norms through semiotics in historicized landscapes. Her self-portrait series, Scenes of Self: Redressing Patriarchy, is a compelling interrogation of the relationship between the white cotton dress shirt and identity and power in the context of antebellum homes owned by former cotton merchants and plantation owners. This series, adopting the aesthetic and posture of historical 19th-century studio portraits and paintings, critically examines an industry that has shaped and sustained the modern US economy. Influenced by how African American photographers have and continue to use photography for representation, Smith engages in the same practices, imaging herself in spaces that connote a present past to construct a visual record of storytelling about history and time. The basis of Smith’s work is to offer new ways of seeing and visualizing oneself beyond the inventions of structure.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 C. Rose Smith: Talking Back to Power, Autograph ABP, London, UK

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 Reclaiming Hope: Afrofruturist Vision, Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, AZ

2024 Four Womxn, MFA Boston, Boston, MA

2024 Critical Geography, FotoFest Biennial, Houston, TX (curated by Steven Evans) (catalog)

2023 Mirror of Self, Hangar Arts Center, PhotoBrussels, Brussels, BE (curated by Delphine Dumont) (catalog)

2022 FotoFest: Ten by Ten FotoFest Biennial, Houston, TX (curated by Annick Debiouk and Max Fields) (catalog)

2022 Threads Bare, Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio, TX (curated by Jacqueline McGilvray and Mary Heathcott)

2020 Rest(Less), Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA (curated by Michael O’Brien)

2018 Sociology of the Black Woman in Contemporary Art, Tula Art Center, Atlanta, GA (curated by Darnell Wilburn)

2017 This Land Is Your Land, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA (curated by Michael O’Brien)

2016 Elevate: Awaken Gallery 72, Atlanta, GA (curated by Kevin Sipp)

GRANTS / AWARDS

2023 Prix Picto De La Mode, Picto Foundation, Paris, FR

2023 Coup de Coeur Leica Prize, Photo Brussels, Brussels, BE

2022 Inaugural Silver List, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, PA

2021 Inaugural John Herrin Memorial Scholarship, FotoFest, Houston, TX

COLLECTIONS

Private

Wedge Collection

FELLOWSHIPS

2023–2024 Visiting Artist Scholar, Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis, University, Waltham, MA

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS

2021 Aperture Magazine Portfolio Review (online)

2021 Fotofest Meeting Place Virtual Portfolio Review (online)

ARTIST LECTURES

2023 Panel, I Am the Future: Innovation in the Arts, Black Heritage Trail, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, October 21

2023 Panel, The Queer Lens: Photographers in Conversation, Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA, June 15 (online)

2022 Lecture, Photography and the Self Portrait, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, October 25

2022 Lecture, Black Figure in Pop Culture, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, October 13

2022 Lecture, Identity & Representation in Photography, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, April 27 (online)

2018 Panel, Express Yourself: Social Justice Spoken Word, Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, GA, November 14

2018 Lecture, Photography and Alternative Processes, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, March 15

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2024 Mitchell-Bonds, Gabrielle. “Four Womxn: New Musings on Blackness Centers the Black Female Gaze at the MFA.” Boston Art Review, October 14, 2024.

2024 Critical Geography - Announcements - e-Flux. e-Flux, January 18, 2024.

2022 Embser, Brendan. “At a Photography Festival in Houston, History Confronts the Present.” Aperture, October 24, 2022.

2022 Garland, Aaron. “Graduate Student Connects with Rochester's Famed Photo History.” College of Art and Design, February 3, 2022.

2022 Harris, Brandon Tho. “FotoFest Biennial 2022 Ten by Ten.” FotoFest, September 1, 2022.

2022 Walton, Asmaa. “New at Blue Star Contemporary: Spring Exhibitions 'Threads Bare' and the 'Black Art Library'.” Art Daily, February 3, 2022.

EDUCATION

2024 MFA in Photography & Related Media, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

2017 BFA in Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA

CONTACT

info@crosesmith.com