Vivian ross-smith

Vivian Ross-Smith’s multi-sensory practice explores performance, textiles, sculpture and painting. Her work holds the potential for liveness in gallery and public settings, where materials are activated and textures are layered to blur the boundaries between comfort, pleasure, and disgust.

Vivian’s work is place orientated and often site-specific. Her position as a queer, island artist informs her approach to making work in the landscape and the studio.

Rooted in her background as a Social Care Worker, Vivian explores practices of care, including generosity, reciprocity and expectations of rest, her work can be seen as an offering to the viewer.

Vivian was born in Edinburgh (1990) and grew up in Fair Isle, Shetland. She has a BA(Hons) from Gray’s School of Art (2013) and a Masters with Distinction from Glasgow School of Art (2020). She was the inaugural Freelands Studio Fellow at Swansea College of Art (2023).

Vivian works from Swansea Studios and is part of performance collective SGÔR_SCORE.