In 1967, in a radical gesture, the artist VALIE EXPORT shed both her father’s and husband’s names to take on a new identity, simultaneously announcing her presence on the art scene. VALIE EXPORT—SMART EXPORT shows the artist posing defiantly in the style of the youth protest movement of the late 1960s, holding a package of Austrian Smart Export cigarettes with her own face and logo mounted on it.
Gallery label from XL: 19 New Acquisitions in Photography, May 10, 2013–January 6, 2014.