Kiki Smith

Bonnie Bates is a reference librarian at the National Gallery of Canada.

This catalogue for a 1996 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition of
Kiki Smith’s “cool” works is supported by two essays on the
exhibition’s theme, the human body. Smith states, “I think I chose
the body as a subject, not consciously, but because it is the one form
that we all share; it’s something that everybody has their own
authentic experience with.”

The absence of installation photos in this volume (only photos of
individual pieces appear) is unfortunate, because it denies viewers a
sense of the collective communicative powers of Smith’s works. The
pieces themselves are simultaneously moving and disturbing, and always
provocative. Smith’s refusal to glamorize her subjects forces viewers
to re-evaluate the misconceptions they may have about their own bodies.


Despite the lack of photographs of the installation, this catalogue is
still a valuable resource.