Dana Smessaert

Installation • Fall 2018

There are always defining tragedies in our lives; this piece was the 5th attempt I have made to resolve mine. Being an image-maker, I am well-versed in the weight of an image and its metaphysical power. I had taken the last photo ever of my life, and I held this life weight in my hands - the responsibility. It is always hard in this work what to disclose and what to hold tight, but this piece is about the first life I have ever had, an accident, but still an animal in my care. As I held their head on my lap in the last moments, I could film this “pure” emotion. The thought left me as quickly as it came, but in the days after, I could not forget that all my training as an artist had interrupted my emotional state with one filled with a disassociation that shook me to my core. Is that what the theory is all about? Does it remove us from actually living? Within this piece, I relive the mental image I see every time I look in the rearview mirror, the complexity of art and theory, and my frustration with what is developed after all this training.