Email: natashamatilasmith@gmail.com
Instagram: @natashamatilasmith
Twitter: @lonelygirl3000
Natasha Matila-Smith (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Hine, Sale'aumua, Pākehā) is an artist and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She graduated from the University of Auckland with a Master of Fine Arts in 2014. Her practice often deals with social exchanges and anxieties, across installation and digital contexts.
Bringing together online imagery and confessional text, Natasha’s practice is an ongoing exploration of the language and social complexities of romance. While the artwork Matila-Smith produces is not what we might associate with performance art, Matila-Smith works from a perspective that is embodied and relational, recognising that “the field covered by performance has… been expanded and blurred by growing discussions on performativity and its implications for language and power within broader areas of artistic and social practice.” Filtering through social media and exhibition spaces, Matila-Smith’s honest admissions address longing, desire and social anxieties from a perspective that is at times as universal as it is deeply personal. (1)
In her work, there is an intimate and obsessive quality exploring amongst other things, understanding and expectations of intimacy, lust and romance, and societies assertion of these expectations onto the self. Her recent artworks on fabric conjure a sense of fragility yet are bold gestures, presenting intimate moments in such a public and easily consumed space. Recent exhibitions include Hard Feelings, The Honeymoon Suite(Melbourne, Australia), 2018; Between me and you, ST PAUL St Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand), 2018 and Sleight of Hand, RAMP Gallery (Hamilton, New Zealand), 2018. She has contributed to online and print publications such as Runway Australian Experimental Art (Australia), Matters Aotearoa and Art New Zealand.
(1) Excerpt from Louise Rutledge’s Editorial for Enjoy Occasional Journal (2018).
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Born 1984
EDUCATION
2014 - Master of Fine Arts (First Class) - University of Auckland, NZ
2010 - 2013 - (First Class Honours) - University of Auckland, NZ
2009 - Certificate in Art and Design - Whitecliffe College Of Art and Design, NZ
EXHIBITION HISTORY
SOLO & DUO
2018 - If You Miss Me, Let Me Know, Meanwhile Gallery, Wellington NZ - with Talia Smith
2017 - In The Flesh, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin, NZ
2017 - This Sky, Too, Is Folding Under You, Corban Estate Arts Centre, Auckland NZ
2016 - Lonely Island, Te Tuhi, Auckland NZ
2012 - It's All Over Now, Artspace, Auckland NZ
GROUP
2019 - 24/7, Auckland NZ (upcoming 2019)
2018 - My name is Peaches - a tender collection, Projectspace, Auckland NZ (upcoming October 2018)
Clean Slate, Window Gallery, Auckland NZ
Sleight of Hand (curated by Wendy Richdale), RAMP Gallery, Hamilton NZ
Hard Feelings (curated by Serena Bentley), Honeymoon Suite, Melbourne AU
Between me and you, St Paul Street Gallery, Auckland NZ
Heavenly Creatures, Verge Gallery, Sydney AU
Under Your Skin You Look Divine (curated by Daniel John Corbett Sanders), Basement Sex Club NZ
2017 - The Cold Islanders (curated by Leafa Wilson), Waikato Museum, Hamilton NZ
You're My Number One (curated by Talia Smith), First Draft Gallery, Sydney AU
Dark Objects (curated by Faith Wilson), The Dowse Museum, Wellington NZ
2016 - Urban Legends/ Open Brief (curated by Ioana Gordon-Smith), All Goods Gallery, Auckland NZ
2015 - White Night (curated by Jaimee Stockman-Young), Auckland Central Library, Auckland NZ
Modern Movements (curated by Ioana Gordon-Smith), Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland NZ
2014 - Saloon Des Ferari fundraiser, F U Z Z Y V I B E S, Auckland NZ
NICAI new Graduate Works, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland NZ
OFFSTAGE 6, Avondale Plantation, organised by Whau The People, Auckland NZ - in collaboration with Salome Tanuvasa & Amy Weng
ELECTIONS 2014 (curated by Ella Grace McPherson-Newton), RM GALLERY - Auckland NZ - in collaboration with Salome Tanuvasa
Siapo Cinema (curated by Robert George), New Zealand Film Archive - Wellington NZ
2013 - OFFSTAGE 5 (curated by Ioana Gordon-Smith), Artspace in conjunction with Tautai Contemporary Arts Trust - Auckland NZ
2012 - Next Wave’s Fresh Produce film compilation (curated by Serena Bentley) – Queen Victoria Market - Melbourne AU
CURATORIAL
2015 - Pacific Materiality - Studio One Toi Tu - Auckland
2014 - Awkward Feelings (co-curator with Talia Smith), George Fraser Gallery, Auckland NZ
Backyard Gesture (co-curator with Salome Tanuvasa), Ironbank, Auckland NZ
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2018 - Feminism and Pop Culture - Networking Travel to Berlin with Goethe-Institut in co-operation with Missy Magazine
2018 - RM, Gallery Archive Room Resident
2014 - NICAI New Graduate Works Finalist
2013-2014 - NICAI Summer Scholarship Award
REVIEWS & MENTIONS:
Upcoming piece for Hamster by Faith Wilson - upcoming, late 2018
Beyond Essentialism, Lana Lopesi for Afterall (UK) - https://www.afterall.org/journal/issue.46/beyond-essentialism
Rereaders Podcast recommendation of Un Projects 12.1 article - http://www.therereaders.com/2018/the-rereaders-episode-94-going-down-wonderland-and-the-royal-wedding/
Review of Hard Feelings by Anna Parlane - https://memoreview.net/blog/hard-feelings-at-the-honeymoon-suite-by-anna-parlane
Review of Between Me and You by John Hurrell - www.eyecontactsite.com/2018/05/bad-education
Three picks from Dark Objects - https://www.festival.co.nz/article/three-picks-dark-objects/
Review of Dark Objects by Matariki Williams for Pantograph Punch - http://pantograph-punch.com/post/dark-objects-the-dowse
Response to Lonely Island by Salome Tanuvasa for Hashtag500words - https://hashtag500words.com/2016/10/17/lonely-island-at-te-tuhi/
Review of Pacific Materiality by Jasmine Te Hira for the Tautai Newsletter - http://www.njtehira.com/news/
