© Shinique Smith
Bale Variant No. 0024 (Everything), 2017
Shinique Smithexpand_more
Clothing and other fabric, ribbon, rope, acrylic mirror, acrylic, fabric dye, wood, metal, pigmentsexpand_more
The Walter R. Bollinger Fundexpand_more 2017.105
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2018 Accession Highlight
Shinique Smith’s textile sculptures employ cloth to address the ways in which people are connected. They frequently incorporate clothing from her own closet, or repurposed items gathered from friends, family members, and even the street. This sculpture speaks to the global significance of textiles as it showcases several different dyeing, weaving, and printing processes drawn from the textile traditions of India, West Africa, Indonesia, China, and the United States. In crafting the sculpture, Smith contemplated how international textile motifs and techniques such as paisley, plaid, kente, tie-dye, dashiki—even ubiquitous denim—connect us globally.
This is the first work by Shinique Smith in Mia’s permanent collection and as such strengthens Mia’s already strong collection of fiber art by extending its temporal reach to the present day. Smith’s commentary on use, refuse, and reuse might also be explored in tandem with historic traditions of textile recycling found in Mia’s Asian Art holdings, such as patchwork kesa, sashiko embroidery, or our 1800s American quilts.
© Shinique Smith