Lydia Smith (she/her) was born in Chicago, Illinois and currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. She received her BA in Anthropology and Studio Art from Rice University, where she directed the student exhibition space, Matchbox Gallery. In 2015 she was awarded a Watson Fellowship to spend a year traveling outside of the United States researching how the landscape of burial sites can reflect varying cultural attitudes towards death. She has completed residencies at Columbus Printed Arts Center, the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, and Denmark Arts Center in Maine. She was awarded a Global Arts + Humanities Graduate Team Fellowship at The Ohio State University where she received her MFA in 2022. She is currently a member of Automat Collective in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.