Amanda Smith: Trust Issues

Fascinated by the subjectivity of truth and belief, Smith’s work examines how systems of authority and faith shape collective perspectives, life choices, and realities.  “What unites the work is its exploration of the forces—both visible and invisible—that define certainty, such as culture, politics, religion, economy, neurology, biology, community, family,” says Smith.

In her exhibition, Trust Issues, Smith’s exhibition uses the lens of fairy tales to explore the relativity of belief systems—from atheism to devotion to religion, to political ideologies—and her own personal experience with facts.

She explains, “I like data.  I find faith difficult…Our world is changing so fast that it’s almost impossible for us to appropriately categorize the overstimulating abundance of information into fact or opinion, making the veracity of even the simple data points hard to determine. In addition to being overwhelming and confusing, this unchecked digital deluge of under-corroborated information is scary because it’s revolutionizing humanity at lightning speed and nobody can predict where we’ll land, or what will remain of truth.”