Rachel Smith is a Canadian born Hong Kong based multidisciplinary artist. Smith started life on a small farm where the nearest neighbour was several miles away, only to move to Hong Kong where she lives with millions of people in the same amount of space. Having lived in this city for 20 years, her current collage/paper-cutting works are a love note to the city that has shaped so much of her adult life.
Smith started cutting paper seriously in 2019, beginning with hanging paper sculpture during the unrest in Hong Kong and the start of the COVID pandemic. Soon she found herself reaching for a sharp knife instead of a pencil during drawing and sketching sessions. Sketching with a knife instead of a pen is challenging but satisfying and the patterns of light created by the holes continue to captivate her. In her studio Prince Edward, she collects and collates the ephemera of a life lived in Hong Kong, pieces them together and hand cuts images of the city.
Smith is also an educator and voice artist. She has a passionate belief that the arts are essential to solving our current problems. Smith is the producer of the local storytelling group called Hong Kong Stories and has been the director if the Spoken Word Festival, a speaker at the HKILF and an artist in residence at schools and museums both here and abroad.
Smith can usually be found at her studio, telling stories on stage, organising shows or going on long rambling walks around the city. She is easily distracted by butterflies.
Smith started cutting paper seriously in 2019, beginning with hanging paper sculpture during the unrest in Hong Kong and the start of the COVID pandemic. Soon she found herself reaching for a sharp knife instead of a pencil during drawing and sketching sessions. Sketching with a knife instead of a pen is challenging but satisfying and the patterns of light created by the holes continue to captivate her. In her studio Prince Edward, she collects and collates the ephemera of a life lived in Hong Kong, pieces them together and hand cuts images of the city.
Smith is also an educator and voice artist. She has a passionate belief that the arts are essential to solving our current problems. Smith is the producer of the local storytelling group called Hong Kong Stories and has been the director if the Spoken Word Festival, a speaker at the HKILF and an artist in residence at schools and museums both here and abroad.
Smith can usually be found at her studio, telling stories on stage, organising shows or going on long rambling walks around the city. She is easily distracted by butterflies.
Rachel Smith Press and Reviews
