Paul Anthony Smith

Paul Anthony Smith creates layered works that delve into autobiography and the intricate issues of identity within the African diaspora. Drawing on concepts from W.E.B. Du Bois and Franz Fanon, Smith’s practice navigates the cultural complexities and hybrid identities shaped by colonialism and migration.

His distinctive picotage technique, applied to pigment prints, transforms photographs into textured surfaces. Often patterned like Caribbean breeze block fences, these veils both obscure and protect his subjects, challenging the revealing nature of photography with a purposefully perplexing effect that interrogates access and visibility.

In his *Dreams Deferred* series, titled after Langston Hughes’ poem, Smith paints lush, impasto gardens over photographs of urban vacant lots, depicting them behind fences. These works serve as a metaphor for the elusive American dream, where seductive beauty is often contained, questioning who is granted entry and what happens when dreams are denied.