The autobiographical exhibition and publication explores artist Barbara T. Smith’s first 50 years. (photo courtesy of The Getty Center)

For over half a decade Barbara T. Smith (b. 1931 in Pasadena) has been at the forefront of artistic movements in California. Her work has taken the varied forms of painting, drawing, installation, video, performance and artist’s books, and often involves her own body as a vehicle for her art.

On view Feb. 28 through July 16 at the Getty Research Institute, Barbara T. Smith: The Way to Be, an autobiographical exhibition presented in her own words explores concepts that strike at the core of human nature, including sexuality, physical and spiritual sustenance, technology and death.

“This exhibition is Smith’s first major museum exhibition and allows unprecedented insight into her practice, presenting a wealth of materials from Southern California collections and Getty Research Institute’s own extensive holdings, which include the Barbara T. Smith papers and Smith’s groundbreaking Coffin series of Xerox books,” said Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute.

In conjunction with the exhibition Getty is publishing a memoir by Smith, entitled “The Way to Be” and covering the first fifty years of the artist’s life. Drawing on her archive at the Getty Research Institute, this book provides exhaustive documentation of Smith’s early work and presents previously unpublished notes, documents, photographs and firsthand accounts of her life and practice, as well as her more recent reflections on the past. “The Way to Be” demonstrates Smith’s lasting contributions to the field of contemporary art and provides an engaging commentary on a recent period of great cultural and political change.

The Getty Center is located at located at 1200 Getty Center Dr. For information, visit getty.edu.