Maddie Smith

In my practice, I look at traditions of preservation and storytelling, in particular the laborious rituals we practice and the sentimental clutter we accumulate to memorialise someone.

I have used ornate decorative dolls made in the likeness of a person as sources for my recent sculptures. As a collector of dolls, I’ve come to notice an abundance of clown dolls created to preserve a performer’s legacy and capture their characterisation or persona. The miniature, delicate replicas of flamboyant and sometimes obnoxious characters pass down centuries of storytelling. Intercultural understanding of clown practises transcends literary bounds. Clowns, pantomimes, harlequinade, jesters, pueblo, mimes, and kyogen theatre interest me as vessels for intergenerational storytelling.