2. Russo Lee Farrell Smith

Ka’ila Farrell-Smith

Ghosts in the Machine 021, 2022-2023

Northern Paiute lithium topsoil, acrylics, aerosols, graphite on stretched canvas

72 × 36 inches

Presented by Russo Lee Gallery


“Ghosts in the Machine 021 is one of a series of 21 paintings
that are a study in grayscales, featuring wild harvested Northern Paiute lithium topsoil collected during my travels through Northern Nevada and Southern Oregon in the past three years. This work is my response to the burgeoning global AI technocratic state that is threatening human freedom through the violent extraction of rare earth minerals like Lithium (Li) from sacred Tribal spiritual grounds for the sole benefit of Western electric elitism.

The painting is a visual matrix of grayscales, layering wild harvested Lithium topsoil, metal detritus stencils found at Modoc point studio ranch, acrylic and aerosol paints. The found metal detritus stencils visually represent machinery, grids, bots, and perhaps unidentified flying objects.”

Bio: Ka’ila Farrell-Smith (b. 1982) is a contemporary Klamath Modoc visual artist, writer and activist based in Modoc Point, Oregon. The conceptual framework of her practice focuses on channeling research through a creative flow of experimentation and artistic playfulness rooted in Indigenous aesthetics and abstract formalism. Utilizing painting with wild harvested pigments and stenciling found metal detritus, her work explores space in-between indigenous and western paradigm. Ka’ila Farrell-Smith received a BFA in Painting from Pacific Northwest College of Art and an MFA in Contemporary Art Practices Studio from Portland State University. Farrell-Smith is a 2021 Hallie Ford Fellow and a 2019-2020 Fields Artist Fellow with Oregon Humanities.