I use historic photo-processes to create installations, whose concepts create a narrative which include specific aspects of contemporary American life. I always work in series, and the series are part of a gallery installation. Though the work is issue-oriented, I endeavor to create images that move beyond polemics and are visually compelling.

Though I begin with a camera negative, the final work is an object which blurs the distinctions between painting, printmaking and photography. I do not edition work; each piece is unique.

My most recent exhibition, “The Ballad of Delia,” is part of an ongoing investigation of genre narratives. In this series, ten photographs of varying sizes evoke the mood of the American folk ballad. The title and the photographs suggest themes of a murder mystery without “telling the tale.” The installation includes an imagined place, weapon and murderer. The images provide the details but the viewer must construct the story.

In my previous exhibition, “Diversions,” I explored games, both for their relationship to chance and the way they order and classify the world. “Lotto” is a nod to the prevalence of state-sponsored gambling, as well as investigation of taxonomy.

Photographic oil print series, installation view by E.E. Smith