Kirsty Smedley – ‘RED TRAILS’
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Kirsty Smedley – ‘RED TRAILS’

“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” – James Baldwin.

 

It has been hypothesised that changes to the epigenome can be passed down to multiple generations of an organism. Within this body of work, similarly I am examining the generational trauma and the effect of gendered racial microaggressions and traumatic stress that is inflicted on black women.

 

Red Trails is an exploration of self-identity and race through navigating a personal expression of my own trauma.

 

The images aim to highlight the complexed emotions which women of colour face due to gendered racial microaggressions /discriminations and racism through the use of my own self image as a way to confront this difficult narrative.

 

The use of red lines as a way to convey bloodlines, navigate throughout the images as a signifier of trauma, conveying the heritable and actual existence of these narratives and also creating a narrative that interlinks the past and present while stopping abruptly in the final image denoting feelings of rest, being at peace and deliverance.

 

Muted, manipulated, red and monochrome. These are expressions of feeling states which aim to share my own personal journey in trying to navigate these difficult issues.

Email:

kirstymsmedley@outlook.com