Zaynah Smith
Zaynah at East End Beach, collaborative portrait.
A black-and-white portrait shows a woman standing outdoors amidst soft-focus foliage, wearing large wire-rimmed glasses, a layered necklace, and a strapless leopard-print top. Their hair is styled in loose braids, and they face forward with a calm, subtle expression.
Glitter Burst
Through Gitter Burst, I use photography to turn everyday domestic spaces into deliberate expressions of self-representation. The project combines colorful, direct portraiture with experimental techniques like motion blur and intentionally shifted focus. I use family relationships and personal objects to show what is important to me, with makeup serving as both playful performance and a clear form of identity-building and aesthetic styling. Set mostly inside the home, each photo documents the real people, places, and objects that shape my daily life.
Sad Clown in Pink: Color photo set against a black background, with a torn strip of paper taped over the top-left corner. Zaynah sits on a small stool, wearing a light pink babydoll dress with a white turtleneck underneath and lilac tights. Her face is painted in blue, purple, and pink sad clown makeup, framed against a white curtain and pink wall background.
Zaynah Close-Up: A tilted Polaroid-stylized photo of Zaynah, with masking tape covering the bottom border. This is a closeup image of the top half of Zaynah’s face. She’s wearing blue eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and false lashes. You can see her smile lines, but her smile is cut off.
Distorted Clown: A tilted photo of Zaynah’s face with rows of orange dots along the top and bottom borders. She is wearing sad clown makeup. The top and bottom of her face are distorted while her sad eyebrows and eyes are clear.
Room in Focus: A Polaroid-stylized photo of Zaynah out of focus, while her room is in-focus. You can see her pink wall, her hallway from the open door on the right, and her closet from the left.
Sad Clown: Black-and-white photograph showing Zaynah sitting cross-legged in a rocking chair piled with clothes. She wears sad clown makeup, glasses, and a black headband slicking back her hair, dressed in a ribbed white turtleneck, underwear, and tights. She holds a makeup wipe in one hand and an empty Torrid bag in the other. Shelves behind her display large Lego head storage containers, with clothes scattered on the floor around her.
Motion-Blurred: Black-and-white motion-blurred photo of a living room entryway. A staircase railing runs along the left foreground with clutter scattered on the floor below. In the center, two doors intersect at an angle; the right door features a small upper window panel with bright light shining through. To the far right, a tall standing lamp sits beside a window with closed dark curtains.
Medusa Lamp: Black-and-white close-up of three glowing shade heads from a multi-light Medusa floor lamp. In the background, plushies line the wall alongside a photo decorated with deco charms.
Cat in Motion: Black-and-white high-angle photo of a motion-blurred domestic shorthair cat walking from a hallway into the living room. She passes in front of a full laundry basket and a saucer chair stacked with loaded reusable bags.
Inside Bedroom: Framed inside a bright pink digital computer window, Zaynah sits reclining in a chair with one leg kicked up toward the camera, wearing a dark top, a patterned skirt, and white platform sandals. She smiles broadly while wearing glasses and bright makeup, framed by vibrant rainbow-dyed hair. The room around her is brightly lit and filled with colorful vanity supplies, beauty products, plastic organizers, and a multi-colored desk set in front of a window.
Zaynah’s Family: Framed inside a bright pink digital computer window, five people pose together in an outdoor lot. From left to right: Zaynah with rainbow hair, cat-eye glasses, and a striped top; a person with bleached blonde hair and a mustache; a center person with auburn hair in a patterned tank top; a person wearing dark cat-eye sunglasses and a cap; and a bearded man with headphones around his neck in a hoodie.
Inner Console: Framed inside a pink digital computer window, a close-up shows a car's interior door panel lined with pink leopard-print fabric. The bright pink armrest control panel is bedazzled with colorful rhinestones, hearts, and star gems surrounding the power mirror switch and door lock controls.
Inside Car: Framed inside a pink digital computer window, a open back door reveals the interior of a blue hatchback loaded with shopping bags and pink leopard-print seating accents. On the car’s exterior, a sticker of a reaching hand and a neutral yellow emoji covers the fuel tank door.