C. Rose Smith

Talking Back to Power

★★☆☆☆

Curated by Bindi Vora
On until 12 October 2024

A crisply starched dress shirt is Smith’s only weapon in her battle against the windmills of power. In each of a dozen self-portraits in this cramped show made in the grand estates of 19th-century cotton farms in the Southern United States, she poses her body as though it were forever out of place. The rich shadows in her monochrome photographs nearly consume her. Only the shirt stands out against the colonial opulence. 

Formally, the prints would make a photography student’s folio proud. Conceptually, they win acclaim from the institution unable to repair anything otherwise. Politically, Smith abdicates her power to the architecture of her imagination built from her ancestors’ agony. There’s no conversation, no challenge, no win.


notes and notices are short and curt exhibition reviews. Read more:

Erick Meyenberg, Nos marchábamos, regresábamos siempre, the Mexican pavilion in Venice ★☆☆☆☆

Erick Meyenberg

Nos marchábamos, regresábamos siempre

★☆☆☆☆

Whatever the purpose of this confusion, it’s not to be found in the gallery.

Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting at National Portrait Gallery ★★★☆☆

Jenny Saville

The Anatomy of Painting

★★★☆☆

There is no trace of the visceral in Saville’s gentle pencil studies, for example.

Trevor Yeung, Soft Ground, at Gasworks ★★☆☆☆

Trevor Yeung

Soft Ground

★★☆☆☆

It’s stressful enough to fuck in the forest for fear of passers-by or the police; imagine having to also look out for curators.

Șerban Savu, The Romanian Pavilion in Venice ★★★★☆

Șerban Savu

What Work Is

★★★★☆

This Elysium is part panel house block, half Roman ruin

Maso Nakahara: Floating Through Time at Pippy Houldsworth ★★★★☆

Maso Nakahara

Floating Through Time

★★★★☆

Biblical floods, the comet’s fall, and the odd tsunami mercilessly toss Nakahara’s protagonists about.

Abel Auer, The shadow of tomorrow draws an ancient silhouette at Corvi-Mora ★★★☆☆

Abel Auer

The shadow of tomorrow draws an ancient silhouette

★★★☆☆

Auer is more interested in the fate of painting than humanity and thus stands apart from the army of zealots who make eco art today.

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