Lenard Smith receives a 2024 MacDowell Fellowship.

Residency Dates: September 27 - November 5, 2024

While in residence at MacDowell, Smith received a Pollock-Krasner Award.

The James Baldwin Library at MacDowell | Peterborough, N.H. 2024

MacDowell Visual Collection:

Unconquered People (2022), Single Channel 11:12

The Pendulum Swings (2022), Single Channel 02:37

MacDowell Downtown is a free series of presentations by MacDowell Fellows that are open to the public. It takes place on the first Friday of the month from March to November in downtown Peterborough, NH. Each season of MacDowell Downtown features a wide array of programming, including film screenings, readings, artist talks, interviews, musical performances, and more. MacDowell Downtown begins at 7:30 p.m. typically at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture in Peterborough.

On Friday, Oct. 4, photographer, visual artist and first-time MacDowell Fellow Lenard Smith will present work from a series titled "Last Departure" at MacDowell Downtown. Free and open to all, this one-hour program will take place at the

Peterborough Town Library beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Smith is a first-generation Ghanaian-American artist and educator who lives and works in Los Angeles. In his ongoing body of work, Smith is investigating manmade structures as hand-built models, reimagining how they can be visualized and experienced. While connected to the still-life genre, Smith’s images also incorporate surrealist strategies, visual references to African diaspora and brutalist design.

Smith is currently a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has published eight artist books and has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. His work is included in the permanent exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and his images have appeared in The New York Times and The Atlantic. Having received an MFA in advanced photographic studies from Bard College after having worked as a photographer for two decades, Smith’s work is grounded in traditional practices and formal experimentation.

Doors open at 7 p.m., with light refreshments served.