Conceptual and Installation works

From 2023 in Germany, Holly Smith started working from her studio in the outhouse of an old castle, part of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, painting and colour in general seemed to slip away. She became quite still in that period. Maybe it was homesickness, or maybe just the weight of being in a new place and not quite knowing how to fill the silence yet. Either way, she found herself sitting with thoughts more than images, sifting through reflections, ideas, and small moments of observation.

Instead of painting in a traditional sense, she started making more conceptual work. Often simple, sometimes funny, always grounded in trying to create a bit of human-ness within that stillness. It became less about producing something visually loud and more about finding a way to speak honestly within the chapter.