Stephanie Smith is a visual artist who has developed a unique process she calls ‘skin mapping’; observing and recording the invisible physical sensations she experiences within her own body. She enters a mindful state to ‘tune in’ to her body, and then records these sensations visually using paint, inks, charcoal and pastel employing expressive marks and diverse colours to develop her own visual vocabulary.
Passionate about exploring depictions of the female body, celebrating domestic, unguarded everyday moments, she is fascinated by how an individual’s lived experience is at once personal and unique to them, while the universality of common tasks creates moments of connection and empathy between people across genders and cultures.
In her Laundry Triptych, for instance, Stephanie mindfully performed this routine task, then depicted the range of sensations she experienced both on the surface of her skin, deeper with her body and across individual muscles. Each individual painting is of a moment in time, and the three chosen poses capture the sequence of movements involved in this simple chore.
She has frequently exhibited at venues across the North East, including Arts Centre Washington, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and most recently at the NewBridge Project in Newcastle. Her work was also featured in Sunderland’s UK City of Culture bid.
Stephanie has collaborated with Theatre Space and people suffering from chronic conditions to explore chronic pain through skin mapping. With Creative Age she used skin mapping as a mindful arts practice for adults living with dementia.
BBC Radio 4 commissioned an audio documentary about her skin mapping practice, entitled ‘Drawing in the Dark’. The initial broadcast in November 2018 was accompanied by an exhibition of over 50 drawings and paintings at Pop Recs in Sunderland. The episode is available on BBC Sounds here.
