Kim Turner-Smith was born in the rural, farming town of Martin, Tennessee and grew up in central Florida. She attended Columbia College in Chicago where she received her Bachelor’s in Photography. After a fifteen- year career working in the commercial photography industry, Smith earned her Master's in Fine Arts Degree from the University of South Florida in 2018.
Themes explored within Smith’s work are the tenuous quality of time, motherhood, childhood, aging, loss, and the human condition. Much of her work centers around her own children, the domestic space, and her travels throughout the southeast region of the United States. She hones in on fleeting moments and liminal spaces; weaving portraits, objects, and landscapes into a tapestry that allows for introspection and speaks to impermanence and the fragility of being human. Her narrative images don’t ask for specific interpretation, instead they thread together a series of lost moments that gain their strength from their connectedness; eventually building to a life lived.
Smith’s work was published on the cover of The Sun magazine in January 2018 & May 2016. Her solo show was seen at the Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, FL in November 2015. Her work has been exhibited at Umbrella Arts Gallery in NYC, A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, TX, Smith and Lens Gallery in Bay St. Louis, MS, and various other galleries. She was invited to present her work at Carousel #6, during the El Cultura Arts Festival in St. Petersburg, FL and has been the recipient of several jurors’ choice awards.
photo by Christian Cortes