Soraya Smithson

We are excited to announce our next speaker as part of our Lithography series of Artist Talks!

Soraya Smithson is a printmaker and artist working across multiple disciplines.

"Making is my most potent and satisfying means of expression; writing is an angstful struggle. During childhood making became my default means of communicating, expressing myself and proving my worth; drawing, sewing, painting, cooking. Anything but reading and writing. This continued into adulthood. I am plagued by doubt and fear when confronted by the written word."

At a glance Soraya Smithson’s art output seems to be a series of random acts of creativity. She produces prints, ceramics, sewn pieces, books, collage, essays and occasionally film, but she is fundamentally asserting her existence through constant making.

The creative process is always led by the idea; first what to make, then how to make it. Soraya is interested in daily rituals, the everyday, the relationship of the domestic with the outside world and the constraints of written language in the context of her dyslexic misunderstandings.

‘There are things I need and want to express, but exactly what I’m trying to say or why is blurry. I’m trying to explore, to expose answers to which no direct questions are attached.’

Soraya works simultaneously on multiple projects. The time provided by switching between them helps solidify ideas and processes. She also works collaboratively, in response to briefs and call-outs, and undertakes commissions.

Soraya has been printing at Leicester Print Workshop since moving to the midlands in 1999.

https://www.sorayasmithson.com/