Dana Smessaert is a seer of the liminal. Through family structures and conflicting values growing up in post-industrial South Bend, Indiana, she understood from a very early age the inconsistencies in what is said and what is. She graduated from the Herron School of Art and Design of Indiana-Purdue University of Indianapolis with a BFA in Integrated Studio Practice and minors in Art History and Anthropology. There are many aspects to Dana’s practice, her experiences with her co-workers and friends are, above all, a driving force to illustrate the inconsistencies of the world around them. Pursing her MFA degree at East Carolina University of Greenville, North Carolina, she explores these cultural and academic structures that dictate the stories of others.