Since the nineties, Smith has been incorporating fairy–tale imagery into her work to depict dramatic female personae and alter egos. Through her sculptures and drawings, Smith gives physical bodies to the abstract female bearers of social doctrine, ranging from the Virgin Mary to Little Red Riding Hood, who populate our cultural mythology. Seer (Alice II) is one in a series of works derived from Lewis Carroll’s own manuscript drawings for the children’s book Alice’s Adventures Under Ground (commonly known as Alice in Wonderland). This piece refers to the tale of Alice, who swims in a pool of her own tears, providing Smith with fertile imagery to continue her exploration of femininity and bodily fluids present in her early works.
Smith is interested in the process of taking a specific character from a narrative, such as Alice and transposing her to another setting, where she remains recognisable, but takes on another life, exemplified by Seer (Alice II). Smith intended this piece to be placed near the water, where its subject could be read as a seer gleaning information from the water, one moment at a time, placing her hands in the liquid like an oracle. Additionally, the setting of the English countryside evokes the original setting of the story of Alice in Wonderland.