Sarah Smuts-Kennedy is a dedicated artist and gardener, working from her home studio and garden, Maunga Kereru; located just north of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. She considers creative endeavours of all kinds as interrelated and of equal standing. The biodynamic permaculture principles that inform the treatment of her physical surroundings also directly affect her studio practice and her approach to art-making. Following intuition and meditative practices, recent works reflect her desire to reveal fields of energy. She describes them as Joy Fields: images which embody the positive joyful life-giving energy of a given moment, space or time. They reflect her priority in balancing in the forces of syntropy and entropy, within artistic and creative endeavours, hers and also others (as within living systems, or life as a whole).
Sarah Smuts-Kennedy (b. 1966, Lower Hutt, Aotearoa New Zealand) graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2012. And was a McCahon House Artist in Residence in 2016. Her works are housed in public and private collections both in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Recent solo exhibitions include Joy Field, Sumer, Tauranga (2021), Energy in Quiescence, Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne (2019), Light Language, Te Uru, Auckland (2017), Frequency of the Earth, Artspace Aotearoa (2017), Events within Boundaries, RM, Auckland (2015–16). Her social sculptural commission For The Love of Bees (2016–ongoing) has triggered a resurgence of regenerative organic urban farms and community compost hubs across New Zealand. She continues to do visioning, environmental advocacy and educational work for this platform.