My name is Alexia Smit and I was born in Durban, South Africa in 1983. My work explores what it means to be ‘too much’. This imaginary boundary tells us a great deal about normal prescriptions on feeling, intimacy and what we consume. I am fascinated with spectacle, excessive displays of feeling and elaborate performances of self, especially just at the moment when these performances break down. It is often women and women’s behaviors which are sanctioned for being excessive and yet we constantly summoned to perform ourselves in various ways.
My source material is gathered from reality television shows, TikToks and Instagram reels. I seldom paint figures in repose. Rather, I enjoy the challenge of capturing human gesture and facial expressions with vigorous brushwork and saturated colour. Ultimately, my work examines what it feels like to construct oneself as a person in the midst of a chaotic visual culture.
Education:
University of Glasgow, PhD, Film and Television Studies 2010
University of Cape Town, MA, Film Studies 2007
University of Cape Town, BA Hons Film and Media production 2005
Exhibitions:
2025, What I Talk About when I Talk About Collecting, [group] Beryl Gallery x Oude Leeskamer, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2025, Art During Chaos, [group] Ladies Drawing Club, International Online exhibition, https://ladiesdrawingclub.com/artduringchaos_exhibition/, United Kingdom/Georgia
2024, Just a Little Slice Please, [group] RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa
2024, Got Junk 4th Edition, [group] The Fourth, via Artsy, International
2024, Blurring the Lines, [group] The Fourth, via Artsy, International
2023, The Still Life of Others, [group] Marvol Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2023, Got Junk, Goldfingers, [group] The Fourth, online exhibition, South Africa
2022, Spaces Between Us, [group] Alliance Francaise Du Cap, Cape Town, South Africa
Collections:
Beryl Gallery Collection, Lindsay Klein, 42 Frere Street, Cape Town
Press:
Stehr, Michaela, ‘Artists We Love: A Q & A with Alexia Smit’, VISI, 2022