Diana Greene Winston-Salem Monthly August 2009 Artist in Residence: Heather Evans Smith

When photographer Heather Evans Smith proclaims that she loves color, initially it seems like she's stating the obvious.  After all, she's sitting in her Winston-Salem office, a bright room with two-toned green walls, one half the color of ripe kiwi, the other more martini olive.

But for Smith, color represents a radical departure from her early work as a photographer. A decade ago she shot "gritty" black and white street photography, which is the antithesis of her recent work and her painterly use of color is just one reason why. Smith's portraits are formal constructions, replete with costumes and impeccably arranged sets that create a distinctly cinematic effect that usually feature Smith in the starring role. More than capturing a moment, Smith creates one. And the street, well, it barely figures into her work dedicated to interiority.

"I want to take you into another world with my photographs, a warmer world," says Smith, who is inspired by all things vintage - clothes, clocks, music. "If you can't tell when it was made, it has more a lasting feel to it," she explains.

In her portrait, In My Life, Smith sits on a wood floor, surrounded by a swirl of old photographs. Her head down, she reaches for a particular picture, blurring her hand slightly. She appears lost in that nostalgic, dreamy state that takes hold when memory is stirred and the past comes forward.

The self-portrait is from Smith's series called, My Beatles. The image, interpreted from the classic song off the group's album Rubber Soul, pulls the viewer in as the camera angle stares down at the woman encircled by snapshots, a shape echoed by the use of heavy vignette on the composition's corners. Smith embraces digital manipulation to achieve her high-concept vision.

"There's a fading away," explains Smith. "We have all these people in our lives and then they go away." As the lyrics go, With lovers and friends I still can recall, some are dead and some are living...

Smith creates in series, relishing the fact that longer projects eliminate the angst of thinking "What am I going to shoot today?" She photographs mainly at home, deploying what she calls a "guerilla style," meaning when the light is good, she pounces into action.

What helps her respond with such alacrity is that she's the model, the one standing in front of the frame as well as the one holding the remote control shutter to shoot the photograph. Smith uses gesture and pose eloquently. It's like her body speaks a language. A lifetime of dancing brings potency to Smith's body, a body she became less critical of once she began looking at herself as an object of art.

Six of Smith's photographs will appear in a book (compiled on Blurb.com) of female self-portrait photographers called In Her Own Image.  In addition, her work has been shown in local galleries.

The term self-portrait, however, oversimplifies Smith's intent. She is using herself, yes, but she aims to explore the feminine. There is a reason she avoids showing her face directly - Smith tries to move beyond the personal into the metaphorical, an artistic realm where commentary and, occasionally, dark comedy can take shape.

In her series, Domestication, Smith's face barely appears as it's buried in sinks, stuffed inside dryers, or covered with masks. In the photograph She Didn't Need a Man... her face is shielded by Cat Magazine as she reclines on a bed, feet up, surrounded by four cats.

"That picture is straight cliché," Smith says. "A lot of women fear they're going to become that 'crazy cat lady.'  I'm playing with the stereotype."

"Women now have such low self-esteem. We're put into such boxes," says Smith, who describes some of her portraits as desperate women cracking under stereotypes. The pressure of modernity is a major reason Smith studies and then revives images from a bygone era, a time when, she says,  "women just looked beautiful, and a lot bigger."

When did you realize you would live a creative life?

In nursery school. I had a line of kids waiting for me to draw them bunnies at Easter. Early on there was something in there.

Where do you find your inspiration?

It could be an item.  Maybe it's a really cool vintage dress or hat, or a foreign film. Sometimes I want to convey an emotion.

What do you do to overcome a create block?

Sometimes it's just writing down things that I might have seen that interest me in a little notepad that I carry around with me. Sometimes it's just getting away from it. I'll just put my camera away and just wait, but I don't wait too long. 

What do you think about failure?

It's a scary thought because you wonder, I do things that I like, but I don’t know that other people will.  How will it be received? I guess I just have to make sure that I'm proud of what I'm doing and that I'm doing it for myself.

Which artists do you most admire?

Edward Hopper - when everyone thinks of him, they think of light.  Annie Leibovitz - she changed the whole face of portraiture. The Beatles, times past, in all decades before the 80s.

What would surprise people about you?

I'm very quiet.  People know what I do and see me out belly dancing and when I do art or create art, I express myself.  You'd think I'd be the person in the center of the room, but I'm off to the side.