BIOGRAPHY

Leah King-Smith first came to prominence in 1992 when her photographic series Patterns of Connection (1991) was exhibited at the Victorian Centre of Photography, Melbourne and the Australian Centre of Photography, Sydney. In preparation for this body of work, King-Smith researched 19th century British Colonial photographs in the Picture Collection of the State Library of Victoria, which had been taken at a time when photography was used as a tool of scientific investigation and when indigenous races were the focus of this medium. In a complex manipulation of the original photographs, King-Smith has created powerful, evocative and breathtakingly beautiful images which invite a reassessment of Australian Aboriginal peoples in the 21st century.

King-Smith has continued her focus on spiritual and metaphysical themes using subtle, layered images of Australia's indigenous people, as well as native flora and fauna, to represent the transitional process from one state of being to another.

King-Smith is well represented in various Australian public collections, and she has exhibited internationally. In 1998 she was selected for inclusion in the exhibition In the Realm of Phantoms - Photographs of the Invisible at the Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach, Germany. Photographs by King-Smith were also selected for inclusion in the exhibitions Metamorphosis and Beyond Myth - Oltre il Mito, which were part of the 1997 and 1999 Venice Biennales respectively.

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