Erin Smith
Biography
Erin Smith is a fine artist from Gqeberha, Eastern Cape and a student at Nelson Mandela University, where she is a scholar with the ISCIA SARCHI Research Chair. Working in the discipline of sculpture, her Masters is focused on understanding how art can be used as a motivating factor towards implementing change, particularly within the Environmentalism movement. In a time when the state of our Earth’s climate is at a crucial point, Erin believes it is vital that humans develop an empathy for the Earth which includes identifying ourselves as part of its natural ecosystem, so that we might return to a state of equilibrium with the rest of the natural world. She is exploring the efficacy of mythological “affect images” in developing this mindset as a motivating force that relies on hope, rather than despair, towards the mobilization of environmental activism.