Sable Elyse Smith

Sable Elyse Smith’s interdisciplinary practice spans photography, painting, video, text, neon and sculpture. Often using language to highlight its performative aspect, the artist blends that which is political, public and personal to reveal institutional violence in the contexts of the carceral and court systems, correction facilities and racial injustices. Smith combines the imagery of mass incarceration with unexpected metaphors, such as an intimate touch of a lover, children’s colouring books or playgrounds. The contrast produced is at once uncanny and familiar: while not physically spoken of, the violence that Smith’s work reveals is entrenched, normalised in everyday public consciousness. By displaying the trauma of unseen, ignored narratives, the social commentary of Smith’s conceptual practice strives to find the missing language to speak of the unspoken. ...

Founded in 2011, Carlos/Ishikawa’s program is dedicated to considered and ambitious exhibitions that offer diverse artists’ perspectives on structural, socio-cultural, and political questions. The program focuses on international artists with often wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary and experimental practices. There is an interest within the program of challenging the aesthetic conventions of conceptual art, and a focus on art that is able to operate on an affective, emotional level as well as a rigorous intellectual one. The gallery has offered many artists their first solo show, many of whom have gone on to receive recognition internationally. ...