I am my own bride, / lifting the veil to see / my face. Darling, I say, / I have waited for you all my life.
- Bride, 2020, Maggie Smith
Emily Mae Smith's recurring interloper, the broom, here appears draped in a delicate white veil, tiny white flowers dotting her straw legs, cradling a smooth stone in her left hand. The painting is technical tour de force, with the soft transparencies of the veil alluding to the layers of paint themselves, and meticulously rendered stones lending a solid foundation to the painting.
A sense of quiet contemplation surrounds the piece, referencing the art historical trope of veiled figures. The surrealist undertone of Magritte's Lovers can be felt, but here, the bride is the only lover present. Much like the subject of Maggie Smith's 2020 poem, the broom-bride finds herself alone, but rather than sadness, it is with a deep sense of revelation that she begins to understand the meaning of finding solace within herself. The bride, a symbol of patriarchal values, becomes a metaphor for the awakening of feminist ideologies.