Well-known local artist Kay Smith is sharing her concerns about Grand Cayman’s landfill and the country’s youth and future in her latest work, “Echoes Through the Archipelago”.
Smith has been an artist for her entire life, having attended art school at the age of 15 before going into graphic design, which she did for much of her younger years before becoming a fulltime artist.
“I went into painting professionally, and it’s all that I’ve done for 52 years,” Smith said in a recent interview with Compass TV. “It’s more than a job; it’s an obsession.”
Smith has participated in many exhibitions over the years in the Cayman Islands including the biennial exhibitions at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, including the third biennial – “Conversations with the Past in the Present Tense” – and the most recent biennial, “Archipelago”.
Smith explained the background on her piece for that exhibition.
“Really it was born of the Cayman Compass because of the news that’s been covered for so many years, especially about the environment, and because we live in a very curated place … we tend sometimes not to see the deeper issues, especially environmental issues,” she said. “I wanted to highlight the ongoing problem that we have with the dump.”
Smith also said that because Compass Media’s TimeBack exhibition was displayed, she could see the “wonderful cultural heritage that really holds the island together.”
“I really wanted to join the two together to show that there is a gap between social media and the way the island is betrayed, but there are real issues. And I felt that TimeBack shows such a wonderful culture of heritage, and it’s something we want young people to know about. We don’t want to lose those memories of the past that are so precious.”
“Echoes Through the Archipelago” is more than a multi-media piece that depicts the landfill and Cayman’s youth. It is thought-provoking imagery that invites the viewer to understand several concepts related to the environment, but also the relationship young people have with social media. It contemplates the losses that can potentially take place because of technical progress and other forces.
When asked to describe the piece in three words, Smith said, “environmental, emotive and emotional”.
According to the National Gallery’s published book on the Archipelago exhibition, “Smith combines imagery from the past and present, interspersing collaged photographs and resin to create a work that lampoons modern day social media.
“Set on a dystopian Mt. Trashmore … a woman in a stylish gas mask views the Cayman Islands through her phone, focusing on the stereotypical, highly curated image of island life while the world around her is full of broken cars and junk. In the face of mass tourism … Smith asks us to consider how truly connected we can be when we live a mediated experience while, ironically, searching for what is authentic.”
Smith elaborated on the painting further. “The dome represents that encapsulated past that is still so important for the present but also highlighting that we really need to address issues that we have in modern society.”
She also described the woman in the painting. “She is standing on the dock with breathing equipment. She’s looking into the past, if you like, through the dome but also through a measure of lost childhood because of social media, computers – young people don’t stop to see the pleasures of being outside and the beautiful place that we’ve got,” she said.
Smith explained further that she was trying to bridge the gap between how present-day children cannot really be at one with their environment.
The mixed-media piece, which measures 43×58 inches, includes some elements that were made digitally, some that are a collage and some that were painted. There is a “secret written message” as well, Smith said, hidden within the piece – inviting viewers to engage even further.
“It was probably a year in the making, coming together from the previous biennial. I wanted to do it because I’d done another environmental piece and was very keen to make people aware of what is happening in the environment here, especially in Cayman.”
Smith donated her piece to Compass Media recently. “I didn’t want the piece to go to a private buyer, even though there was interest,” she said. “I want it to be displayed for a broader audience.”
The piece will be placed in Compass Media’s offices where no doubt staff and visitors will be impacted by it – and will search for the hidden message Smith has enticingly included.
Additional reporting by Matthew Poskitt, Compass TV video journalist.
Related Videos
The phrase “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it” is attributed to the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956).
One look at Kay Smith’s art ‘Echoes Through the Archipelago’ is worth a thousand words. Thank you, Kay, for using your art to speak for what’s happening in Grand Cayman.
I cannot fathom how Grand Cayman, once a pristine natural jewel, has been degraded into a polluted wasteland where luxury is confined behind concrete walls.