​This is taken from Charlie Sarsons introduction to the new book 'Stephanie Smith - Photographs 2012 - 2013'

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"Stephanie Smith is neither here nor there. This work explores a lifelong love affair with a certain period of time; a certain atmosphere; a state of mind, and a carefully crafted lifestyle. We’ve all seen images from times past, fixed in our minds as iconic moments defining of an age, and longed to be amongst the scenes. We become products of experience, rarely having a choice in our environmental conditions. Stephanie takes this one step further, and creates her own version of the Seventies through photojournalistic processes made evident in this body of work. To listen to the music, to imitate the fashion, to place herself in similar surroundings – this isn’t enough. Stephanie wants to have physically lived in this era, and so immortalises herself and others in images blurring the lines between the here and now and the past.

Recreating images of idols such as Debbie Harry, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop, Stephanie turns this romanticised ideal into a lived experience. With the camera as time-machine, a bond is strengthened between the artist and that which she will never truly access. These works act as a means to the viewer happening upon the world of Stephanie as she tries to happen upon the world of her idols.
A conscious decision has been made upon the artist’s part to not use or include the originals in an attempt to give her audience a sense of her experience. By only viewing Stephanie’s recreations, you cannot access the original in the same way as she cannot physically place herself within the Seventies. Photographs are all Stephanie has to go off in her imagination of this period, and we are granted the very same thing here in our imagination of the originals. The photographs serve as portals, and we are always one step behind the artist.​

Beyond this, there is a real question of identity. In living her life so in tune with a time period existing over forty years ago, according to those of her idols, does Stephanie sacrifice parts of herself? Or is her very character dependent upon the visual experience of this era? These are questions posed as much to Stephanie as they are to her audience."