Yasmin Smith: Elemental Life, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
3 October 2025 – 8 June 2026
Further Reading:
Brazil, R. (2021) ‘Marking the Anthropocene’, Chemistry World. Available at: https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/marking-the-anthropocene/4012969.article.
Evans, S. and Viisainen, H. (2023) ‘Revealed: Colonial rule nearly doubles UK’s historical contribution to climate change’, Carbon Brief. Available at: https://www.carbonbrief.org/revealed-colonial-rule-nearly-doubles-uks-historical-contribution-to-climate-change/.
Ferreira da Silva, D. (2018) ‘On Heat’, Canadian Art. Available at: https://canadianart.ca/features/on-heat/.
Gulick, S.P.S. et al. (2019) ‘The first day of the Cenozoic’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(39), pp. 19342–19351. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1909479116. Available at: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1909479116.
Hurley, R.R., Rothwell, J.J. and Woodward, J.C. (2017) ‘Metal contamination of bed sediments in the Irwell and Upper Mersey catchments, northwest England: exploring the legacy of industry and urban growth’, Journal of Soils and Sediments, 17(11), pp. 2648–2665. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11368-017-1668-6.
International Commission on Stratigraphy (2024) ‘Working Group on the Anthropocene’, Stratigraphy.org. Available at: https://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/working-groups/anthropocene.
Weir, K. (2024) Rethinking Nature, MADRE/Arte’m, Naples, 2024.
PDF available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uvKsxJIWAX5fRuzDldzXqw6YwDtkiyG2/view?usp=sharing
Winn, P., Lynch, J. and Woods, G. (2019) Out of the Ashes II: NSW water pollution and our aging coal-fired power stations. Newcastle: Hunter Community Environment Centre. Available at: https://www.hcec.org.au/out-of-the-ashes-ii.
Yusoff, K. (2024) Geologic Life: Inhuman Intimacies and the Geophysics of Race. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
background image (flames): Research Image: Yasmin Smith burning Paramatta River mangrove wood for Drowned River Valley, 2018 commissioned for the Biennale of Sydney 2018, curated by Mami Kataoka, photo: Elle Fredericksen.
background image (grey): Yasmin Smith, Ash Grey, 2025, coal fly ash paint on wall installation view Yasmin Smith: Elemental Life, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2025, curated by Jane Devery and Manya Sellers, photo: Hamish McIntosh
acknowledgements:
Elle Fredericksen, Professor Kliti Grice, Amanda Rowell, Kathryn Weir
Dr Ros Gray, Dr Jol Thoms, Fred Gatwick
Jane Devery and Manya Sellers
(Manchester Driftwood) Orla Forrest, Kalika Kulukundis and Sangita Mulji, Rachel Loos and Michael Streeter.
(Chicxulub) Professor Kliti Grice and the Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry (WA-OIG) Centre, Curtin University, WA.
(Forest) Dr Ingrid Schraner and the Coal Ash Community Alliance, Johanna Lynch and the Hunter Environment Centre, Dr Jane T Aiken, Nick Wills, Dr David Law and Egan Rahmat Dirgantara, Anthony Callen, Tom Prendergast, Fly Ash Association of Australia.
Yasmin Smith was awarded the 2024 Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship, supporting her work within the Master of Art and Ecology program at Goldsmiths.