Currency: field notes from Shanice Smith is the second installment of the piece Women are the currency of the day (2016). The earlier artwork consists of a suggestive image of a woman’s body, printed on local currency, prompting conversations about ‘body counts’ in relation to coded sexual references and access to women’s bodies. According to one of the three traditional ideals of masculinity—access to women’s bodies, having the respect of peers, and conventional measures of career/financial success)—the greater the number of conquests, the higher a man’s perceived security in his masculinity. Like ‘body counts’, the single dollar bill has very little value, but a stack of dollar bills is worth more.
Her latest piece centres the survivors of sexual violence, who retell their encounters. The installation consists of a thermal printer that reads out the survivors’ accounts. Eventually, the ink fades away; much like the instances of trauma and abuse, these stories become part of a repetitive cycle—you hear about them, you are troubled, but then you move on—sweeping it under the rug, or discarding it like an old receipt whose contents have faded long after a transaction has taken place.
All are invited.
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Shanice Smith’s work explores gender-based issues, with a focus on deconstructing and investigating violence faced against women and children within the Trinbagonian society. Through visual representations, she explores these themes using a mixed media approach—from video works, to found and discarded items, to performative or interactive gestures. Her main aim is that these works will function as a medium for open discussions. These encounters serve as motivation for her ongoing works and prompt conversations that create awareness and foster safe spaces for others to share their own stories, seeking to transform silence into a language of action. Her artistic inspiration stems from her own journey of self-discovery, interrogation, and more importantly, from her family’s history.
Apart from her personal practice, she is also the co-founder of Cousoumeh Collective. The Collective focuses on using participatory research methods via the act of cooking as a tool for interpersonal engagement. Within the Caribbean and its diaspora, food holds a lot of meaning as a way of showing care and building community. Both of Shanice’s practices work in tandem, becoming a reflection of each other - while her personal practice acts as a mirror, revealing parts of society we try to hide, the works done under Cousoumeh Collective offer a nurturing, healing approach to confronting the harsh realities that have been unveiled.
