Artistic Statement

Hi, I am Carolina, a sociologist, an academic and NGO worker for many years in areas of sociological research such as women, violence and poverty, parenting, drug addiction and imagery.

visual methodologies

When the lockdown first came I had been studying visual methodologies for a long time in various research settings. I had seen the power of images produced by children in violence contexts in Colombia and Guatemala during my time in the World Bank, in Washington DC; years later I saw even clearer how visual methodologies such as photovoice and Zmet aid understanding both for respondents and researchers alike. It was mind blowing: the mind not only can bypass language in understanding but responds, expands and is stimulated
by imagery.

When the idea of bringing to life surreal images from my dream journals first appeared, during the lockdown, some psychologists contacted me as they found surrealism a powerful tool to convey a message.

clinical case illustration

A child clinical psychologist and friend of mine asked me to provide surreal images to illustrate a clinical case for a conference. As the conference had moved via zoom, she believed it was an innovative way to deliver a message. We decided to give it a go. My job was to get under the skin of the young patient referred to in that case study and to surreally illustrate how the young child in question did feel. We wrestled with it back and forth. The experiment worked a treat and since we have repeated the idea with another clinical case of a child that was to be presented in a seminar via zoom. She reports that attendees remember the cases so well due to the imagery provided.

Later a paediatrician mentioned that she would want images to aid parents of children with Eating Disorders for whom words not always achieved the desired goal of communicating effectively. As I worked on these images in pencil in a surreal manner, she liked them and suggested putting them in exhibition form for the next conference later in the year (2022).

We even talked about making them available for practitioners in the field.

exhibition: "with food on my mind"

Added to this I put together an exhibition of oil on canvas about the relationship that we have with food. “With Food On My Mind” series reveals the often complex set of emotions children of all ages and nationalities, and our child within, have with food.

This series of colourful paintings will be available for exhibition later in 2022.

‘I LOVE CUPCAKES’

Series: “With food on my mind.”

Part of a series of paintings; many of
these to be exhibited in the Eating Disorders Conference October 2022, Monterrey Mexico.

Oil on panel canvas,
measurements: 42 cms x 60 cms

“I love hamburgers”

Series: “With food on my mind.”

Part of a series of paintings; many of
these to be exhibited in the Eating Disorders Conference October 2022, Monterrey Mexico.

Oil on canvas,

measurements: 1 m x 72 cms, 2022

carl jung

The works of the great psychoanalyst and philosopher, Carl Jung, have always fascinated me. His writings about self and other and how the human psyche works and develops helped me to better connect with myself and to perceive the world differently in the form of visions and images.

As Jung puts it:

“Your visions become clear when you look into your own heart”.

The veracity with which he navigates the conscious and the unconscious mind and his own voyages of self-discovery encouraged me to diligently record the content of all of my dreams in journal form. The information contained in these journals became the starting point to my artistic journey.

Clinical Case

Carl Jung

I continue to find it both enlightening and humbling to see how the human heart, the body, mind and soul connect to form a spiritual journey that is highly visual, intimately personal, colourful and sacrosanct to each individual.

The desire is to produce art that is figurative and surreal, yet compositions soaked with symbolism and meaning.

If you have a concept, a dream, an idea or a story that has significance and meaning or a half recalled fragment of memory that you want to see brought to life as an illustration in pencil, charcoal, digitally coloured or in an oil painting, this is what my work is about.

Bio

Galia Carolina Smith (Ladino Diaz) is a Colombian national who has lived in the UK for nearly 30 years since completing a Masters in Contemporary Political Philosophy and a PhD in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. More recently, she has explored both psychoanalysis and psychotherapy alongside her passion for the visual arts.