Christen Smith is a multi-modal animation artist working in expanded cinema to create immersive experiences of encounter and healing. Her artistic practice is an expedition into the interior realms of the Self
and a confrontation with the forces bent on distracting the Self from
each Other. She uses drawing to reclaim animation as a mode of self-discovery
and connectedness, and she uses animation as a witness to the story of
transformation.
Rejecting the uniform precision of commercially manufactured animation and embracing the drawn line as an act of intimacy and immediacy, Christen’s frame by frame animations, whether figurative or abstract, are visual embodiments tracing the imperceptible encountering itself through movement. This contemplative approach guides the evolution of her iconography, birthing gestures, rhythms, and feminine protagonists existing for their own pleasure. Layered with textures fabricated from analog sketches and home videos, Christen’s visual sequences are then woven together with an editor’s sensibility, spanning single screen, installation, and site specific forms. Deconstructing the meta-narratives of constraint and separation, her practice integrates the participatory art movement with experimental animation, creating psychologically immersive events for her audience to communally encounter their own interior journeys.