Stephanie Smith

Curator and writer Stephanie Smith shapes collaborative, multi-disciplinary projects that are grounded in specific contexts and linked to global practices. Her curatorial interests extend from early and ongoing research on ecology, sustainability, place, and hospitality, to her current work on Chicagoland: Property, Speculation, and Socially Engaged Art for her PhD with the University of Amsterdam’s School of Heritage, Memory, and Material Culture. Smith has held senior roles at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, and VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art in Richmond VA; and served as contributing editor at Afterall journal. Smith is Assistant Adjunct Professor of Art at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is a 2025–2026 Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, and is a member of the collective Hase’, which works closely with the Awi’nakola Foundation.