A retrospective of the work of American artist Kiki Smith, who, through an extremely diverse range of media and techniques, focuses on the multiple forms that connect living beings to their environment.
The body, and particularly the female body, is the starting point for this relationship with the world. A social figure, it is also, quite simply, filled with fluids, organs, and viscera. It is also the means of communicating with our surroundings, through various senses that create a connection with nature, animals, plants, and minerals, with the air and the ocean. Finally, it encompasses a cosmic dimension, as it contains stardust, and urges us to transcend the limits of the known.
With over 180 reproductions of works, this catalog invites everyone to embark on this journey that celebrates the freedom of creation and the necessity of dreaming.
Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at MO.CO. Panacée, Montpellier, from June 13 to October 11, 2026.
Kiki Smith, an American artist born in Germany in 1954, has developed a multidisciplinary practice since the 1980s, mixing sculptures, prints, photographs, drawings, books, tapestries and various objects. One of the characteristics of her works is experimentation through diversity and the rejection of any form of hierarchy. A central subject remains the human body, often feminine - its anatomy, its imprint, its relationship to the living. Sometimes altered or fragmented, it also appears to be peaceful, unifying and a meeting point of energies.
Texts by Rahmouna Boutayeb, Rodolphe Calin, Gérald Chanques, Pauline Faure, Numa Hambursin, Arthur Le Saux, Aurélien Potier, Emmanuel Terrier, Deniz Yoruc.
