Eli Smith

SAIC SHOWS 2025 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Graduates

SAIC SHOWS 2025 GRADUATE EXHIBITIONS

Bachelors of Fine Art

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Eli Smith is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Chicago pursuing a BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in Film and Animation. They are originally from the rural area of Taos, New Mexico. Their experience living in a rural environment and working physical labor jobs connected to the land has shaped the way they think about land and its connection with people.

Through art they try to dissect and understand this relationship further. They draw connections between how trauma can be seen in the traits and health of the body and the environment. Currently they are exploring non-fiction animation as a form of storytelling to inspire action and hope amidst the uncertain and paralyzing times of the on-going Climate Crisis we face.

poster, Landscape Concept art

This is a concept art piece of an aerial shot in my film including abstracted flight patterns of bees

Within my video work I strive to create a visceral, tactile, and sensorial experience for the viewer in the digital space. For this reason, texture, environments, and sound often inspire the images I create. When creating, I study the science behind the natural phenomenon that inspire me. The scientific research becomes the basis for the conceptual framework of my art. I build off this research creatively with my art to imagine metaphors and images that relate the human experience to the natural world. The art I create is a form of research and exploration of the connection between trauma, the subconscious, the body, and the land. The expression I find in movement, environment, and abstraction allows me to reverberate this research throughout the body of the viewer.

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