River Smith

I have autism and the sculptures, installations and paintings I make are directly influenced by how that changes my experience of the world. I am fascinated by the interaction between our sensory experiences, interpersonal relationships and traumatic childhoods. In my sculptural and installation practice, I invite you to come and play with the works. These odd playful objects, made with harvested trash from this little rock of ours, are an open work experiment in emotional regulation.

Trauma is the context.
Play is the method.
Interaction is the mechanism.
Connection is the outcome.

I make things to understand them. Painting helps me understand the colour, texture and feel of the sculpture. Drawing helps me understand its’ form, scale and mechanics. Harvesting scrap materials changes the direction of the work, naturally and organically. This methodology is led by the idea of understanding through play. Through touch. Through childlike investigative curiosity. The resultant ‘transitional objects’ need the audience to treat them with the same practise in which they were formed. To understand them, they must play too. It is a form of shared connection.

MA, Manchester School of Art, 2024
BFA, Fine Art, Liverpool School of Art, 2016


AWARDS AND GRANTS
The Eaton Fund Grant (2025)
Art Collide Emerging Artists’ Award, Finalist (2024)
Hilary Parker award for Art (2010)


RESIDENCIES
Artist-in-Residence, La Ira de Dios, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2026)
Artist-in-Residence, Prisma, Lisbon, Portugal (2025)
Artist-in-Residence,  Arts Letters & Numbers Institute, New York, USA (2017)
‘A Third Thing’ Residency, Arts Letters & Numbers Institute, New York, USA (2017)

Beam Me Up, Islington Mill, Manchester, UK (2026)
Hold My Hand, Prisma Studio, Lisbon, Portugal SOLO (2025)
Hadrian’s Wall Art Trail, Field Shelter Gallery, Hadrians Wall, UK (2025)
Residency Showcase, Prisma Studio, Lisbon, Portugal (2025)
Protest & Pride - Art as Resistance, The Mill Gallery, Leeds, UK (2025)
Soft Territories, Pup and Tiger, Canterbury, UK (2025)
Artivist, Gallery Grounds, Southhampton, UK (2025)

I See You, Levenshulme Old Library, Manchester, UK (2024)
Emerging Artists, Art Collide, Digital Exhibition (2024)       
Manchester School of Art MA show, The Holden Gallery, Manchester, UK (2024)
Open Studios, 70 Oxford Road, Manchester, UK (2024)
Manchester Open, Home Gallery, Manchester, UK (2024)

Punk/Jazz, Micklegate Social, York, UK (2023)
Traces, Kensington, Calgary, Canada (2018)
Tertium Quid, House on the Hill, New York, USA (2017)
A September Exhibition, The Mill, New York, USA (2017)
Liverpool School of Art Degree Show, John Lennon Building, Liverpool, UK (2016)
6 maybe 9, John Lennon Building, Liverpool, UK (2016)
B4*, The Royal Standard, Liverpool, UK (2016)
Lost, John Lennon Building, Liverpool, UK (2015)
Wrapped, Bombed out church, Liverpool, UK (2015)
Amerge, Arch Collectiv...