2022 Catalogue Archive

A fifth generation Texan, Allison V. Smith has produced a significant body of work focusing her camera on the West Texas landscape. The stark simplicity of Smith’s photographs emphasizes the individuality of her subjects, casting these rough and weathered icons as more complex than just mythic elements of the southwest. Here, the tumbleweed is captured on top of a black ground, possibly asphalt or gravel. The dark plane contrasts with the radiance of each golden tendril of the dried bush. The central composition and limited colors cause the work to appear at first as an abstract constellation of lines. Apart from her career as a fine art photographer, Smith also works as a freelance photojournalist on projects for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, among others.