She/They
Eli Smith is an artist and activist from Long Island, New York. She received their bachelor’s degree in Physics from the State University of New York at Geneseo and dual MFAs from CalArts in both Collaborative Performance and Art & Technology.
Eli’s current work explores psychologically precarious states through transformative landscapes of potential violence. Her mythology is comprised of feminist fairy tales, domestic crime scenes and horror-movie lullabies. Her interest in precarity is autobiographical: she describes her personal history as a series of transformative states. Eli specializes in immersive, interactive scripted-spaces that offer opportunities for shared authorship. Special topics of interest are based on her lived experience and include mental illness, class, child abuse, femme identity and trans-generational trauma in America.
Eli’s community work has focused on issues of economic inequality, mental illness and homelessness. They served as both an Americorps member and as an employee at the Henry Street Settlement House in NY. They were a founding member of the Mastic Beach COAD and the resulting Jubilee Center, a nonprofit dedicated to providing disaster relief to local communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. She has been a dedicated volunteer mentor and tutor at local libraries and community centers across the country and has worked professionally as both a tutor and as a personal aide for more than 15 years. Eli is the founder of the Vallejo Homeless Union, an organizing body comprised almost entirely of people who are currently unhoused or have prior lived experience with housing insecurity.
Eli was recognized at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial for both her 2014 performance art piece “For Your Inspection” and their 2014 stage design for California Repertory Theater’s “Next to Normal.” Past collaborative projects include Lew Klahr's 2017 experimental film "Hearse," Edgar Arcenaux's 2016 performance art piece “Until, Until Until…”, and Nataki Garrett's devised work, “The Carolyn Bryant Project,” which opened at RedCat in May of 2018. Their video installation "A Continuous Thread” appeared at The Box Gallery in June of 2018 and their narrative installation “Tiger Play” premiered in December of 2018 at CalArts. Eli’s ongoing, interactive installation-performance “Talent Show” appeared at The REEF in 2019 as part of Hannah Varamini and Brd’s curational project “Love’s Remedies.” They were an artist in residence at CultureHub LA from 2019 to 2020 and their in-progress , multi-media installation “Elevator Music” was conceived and developed during that time. Eli’s immersive environment, “Today Is Your Birthday,” appeared at ArtCenter’s DTLA in 2021 and is still available for online viewing. Eli is currently working on “The Fall (Working Title),” a digital, interactive piece that straddles the genres of both theater and immersive installation.