Julia Kim Smith

selfie mirror

Selfie Mirror is a participatory installation piece: A hand mirror is mounted on a microphone stand with the words “IN TRUMP’S AMERICA, I AM WORTH NOTHING.” etched on the front of the mirror and “I AM SECRETLY GOING TO BURN THIS THING DOWN FROM THE INSIDE.” etched on the back.

The work borrows from “Ways I Am Preparing For A Trump Presidency,” an essay by Blythe Roberson.* In Trump’s America, I am alarmed by the rise and normalization of hate crimes and violence. I am alarmed our democracy is teetering into fascism. I am concerned for our future. Diversity is America’s strength, and our diversity is threatened.

My hope is that when viewers get close to Selfie Mirror and look for themselves, they’ll see an image of themselves, and of others, in a different light.

— Julia Kim Smith

*Blythe Roberson, “Ways I Am Preparing For A Trump Presidency,” The New Yorker, November 15, 2016.

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Site: SpaceCamp, Baltimore, MD, LabBodies Performance Art Review: Freedom, Curators: Dr. H. Corona and Dr. A. Pinkston (image courtesy Ada Pinkston, Instagram)
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Site: A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Currents: Abortion, Curator: Barbara Zucker, Co-Founder, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (image courtesy Sebastian Bach)
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Site: A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Currents: Abortion, Curator: Barbara Zucker, Co-Founder, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (image courtesy Mona Eltahawy, Twitter)
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Title
selfie mirror

Year
2017

Medium
etched hand mirror, rope, enamel American flag pin, microphone stand

Exhibition History

  • Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD, 2020
    Merkin Dream
  • Daily Trumpet, Curator: Jonathan Horowitz, March 9, 2018
  • A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2018
    Currents: Abortion, Curator: Barbara Zucker, Co-Founder, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • SpaceCamp, Baltimore, MD, 2017
    LabBodies Performance Art Review: Freedom, Curators: Dr. H. Corona and Dr. A. Pinkston

Press

  • Ms., Nicholl Paratore, “Visualizing Reproductive Justice Under Trump” (A.I.R. Gallery Currents: Abortion), February 2018
  • Artforum, “Artguide: Must-See New York” (A.I.R. Gallery Currents: Abortion), February 2018
  • BmoreArt, Angela Carroll, “Envisioning And Embodying Freedom,” November 2017
  • Baltimore Beat, Maura Callahan, “LabBodies’ Third Annual Performance Art Review Channels Pain Into Resistance,” November 2017
  • BmoreArt, Cara Ober, “Best Baltimore Visual Art Exhibitions Of 2017” (6. LabBodies), December 2017
  • Baltimore Beat, "Year In Review: The Beat’s Top 10 Art Shows In 2017” (4. LabBodies), December 2017

Quotation from Blythe Roberson, “Ways I Am Preparing For A Trump Presidency,” The New Yorker, November 15, 2016

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