But You Don’t Look Asian, 2023
To others, my racial appearance is often speculated or made a topic of conversation. I have been made to feel like I do not represent my culture through my appearance or life choices.
This series highlights my experiences as a mixed Australian, reflecting the many perceptions I and others have of my identity, while cathartically demonstrating my choice to pursue art as a career.
But You Don’t Look Asian is a representation of the culture I am proud to be a part of - a culture that has come with many bittersweet memories. My Ah Mah and Kong Kong’s house has always been a familiar and comforting place for me - an outlet into my Chinese-Malaysian heritage that allowed me to feel surrounded by the things I love but cannot always indulge in in Australia. This series became an expression of my love for my culture through the mundane beauties of my Ah Mah’s house and the significance of food as a love language and bond.
‘But You Don’t Look Asian’ (2023), digital and film photography
Exhibited at Revel & Reveal, 2024 Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts Graduate Show



















Intertwined, 2024
Intertwined is a photographic representation of the interconnectivity of all things in life, particularly the similarities and relationship between humans and nature. This piece also represents concepts such as ‘life imitating art - art imitating life.’ This photographic work visually represents connectivity and the interwoven nature of people, nature and concepts.
‘Intertwined’ (2024), archival Pigment Inkjet black and white print on 310gsm German Etching Paper with sewn coloured thread, 21cm x 30cm
Resonance, 2024
Caitlyn Smith’s photographic work Resonance, explores how to bring a materiality to the ephemeral. That is, the recollection of the fragments of her memory; her family's collective remembering and representations of others’ lives through photographs. In this case, she investigates the rich life of her Granny, who recently passed away.
Challenging photographic truth with personal perception and remembering, she attempts to replicate these intimate moments through photographs from her family archive - taken by those who loved her most. Smith’s work brings forth the emotional resonance of nostalgia, a sense of urgency to retain memories and a fascination with memories that don’t belong to her.
This series's tactility and reworked nature search for a physical method to represent fading memories and attachments. To create the final iteration of this series, Smith went through an extensive experimental period, reworking versions of original photographs to create physically manipulated editions. This led to a joining of materials and processes to emphasise the many layers and variations of our memory.
Cutting out the figures maintains a level of ambiguity and wonder to prompt feelings of familiarity and reminiscing. Replacing the negative association of removing others from photographs, Smith uses this process to represent the absence of her Granny. Using second-hand fabric, bedsheets, and various sewing techniques, she stitches together a family of memories to describe the weight and loss of a single person.
Exhibited at Revel & Reveal, 2024 Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts Graduate Show












Family Archive Trials, 2024
Various cyanotypes and mixed media trials. These were created as part of my trials for my Resonance photography series. The medium and process of each piece varies from repurposed fabric, paper, canvas, cyanotype and physical manipulation/removal. The overall process for these trials and the final series was multi-layered, through scanning archived photographs after various stages of editing and manipulation to achieve the right exposure and contrast between the negative space figure and the rest of the image. While creating Resonance, some of these trials were included in the final work - layered and sewn as fragments on top of the cyanotypes.
Persimmon, 2024
Persimmon is an appropriated painting of Edouard Manet’s The Melon. It tackles themes of cultural identity and heritage through replacing the fruit commonly seen in historical paintings with a Persimmon - one of many South East Asian tropical fruits. The choice of fruit was intentional, to subvert historical still life paintings. The colourful and playful border of the painting elaborates on this theme with reoccurring tropical fruits such as Mangosteen, Durian and Star Fruit. The border appropriates the thick traditional frame the original painting was presented in at the NGV.
'Persimmon' (2024), oil and acrylic paint and Posca Pens on canvas, 50cm x 39.7cm
Exhibited at Revel & Reveal, Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts Graduate Show, 2024
A Peaceful Window, 2024
Documentation by Natalie Ledge Marketing - Unassigned Gallery
'A Peaceful Window' (2024), oil paint on canvas, 12.7cm x 17.8cm
Exhibited at An Exhibition for Ants 2.0, Unassigned Gallery, 2024



Hó Chiáh, 2024
Acrylic painted double-sided zine showcasing familiarly loved Asian condiments. The title of the zine, Hó Chiáh, means ‘delicious’ or ‘yummy’ in Hokkien, the mother-tongue of the artist. The poster on the inside of the zine was created with scanned Malaysian recipes which were hand-written by the artist’s Ah Mah (Malaysian Grandmother).

Indescribable Belonging, 2024
Indescribable Belonging is a photographic zine expressing the connection between nature and humans through film photography. The zine features various scanned ephemera such as paper, receipts and clovers/weeds.
Miscellaneous Photography 2023-2024
Images that were not included in final projects, casual photography and travel photography.