Known for her transgressive performances in the 1970s, artist, Barbara T. Smith drew largely from her inner life, evaluating what it was to be a woman within a patriarchal society at the time. In the 1950s Smith was in a traditional marriage and had three children. By the late sixties she was divorced and her life re-focused thereafter on her art over domesticity. Through various performances such as Ritual Meal (1969), Feed Me (1973), Intimations of Immortality (1974), and Birthdaze (1981) Smith contemplated ideas of spirituality, feminism, collective consciousness, the body, sexuality, and institutional power structures. She looked deep into human consciousness and found ways to embody these constructs through performance. Image caption: Barbara T. Smith The Way To Be, 1972, Performance, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA. Courtesy of the artist and The Box, LA.