Kara Q. Smith

Oakland, CA — Kara Q. Smith died on June 17, 2025, after enduring colon cancer for over two years. Kara was brave, kind, smart, and funny, especially when she was staring you in the eye over an old fashioned, with a year's worth of catching up to do. She had a radiant smile, a quirky sense of humor, and a profound love of Dolly Parton—characteristics that all live on in her daughter, Bernice, who Kara loved fiercely and dreamed for everyday. Kara is also survived by her mother Shawn, stepfather Wade, sisters Alison and Rebecca, Grandma Marge, cat Rua, and countless friends who consider her family.

Kara was deeply curious about the ways we intersect with the world and each other, and her sense of community was at the center of everything she did. It guided her pursuit of and dedication to education, as well as her love of adventure. It was the bedrock of the friendship-centered lifestyle she curated in San Francisco and the lifelong relationships she brought along for the ride. It’s impossible to measure the distance she covered as she left Dot-on-the-Map, Alabama to discover the Mission, the Seine, the High Desert, the California Delta, the works of Ocean Vuong, the music of Steely Dan, the clocks of Félix González-Torres, and the annals of SNL’s underappreciated sketches. She was the strongest person, with the greatest laugh, in any room.

Kara worked tirelessly to build a service-oriented art practice that included advocacy and cultural policy development. Her work emphasized conversation, interaction, and knowledge sharing; it was rooted in supporting contemporary artists who created with conviction. Throughout her life, Kara championed the value of artists’ labor by initiating and enacting projects that modeled the potential for real systems change, born from her own deep understanding of the economic inequities of the art world. Her focus on tangible impact led her to commission public art projects across the country and continuously support the writing of emerging critics.

Kara will be remembered for her love of art, especially the artists and artworks she stewarded. She will be honored each time those she impacted uphold their own core values when it would be easier to defer to conventional wisdom. And she will live on in our collective commitment to learning about ourselves and others. Kara died the way she lived: bringing together a singular group of people who loved and admired her, and challenging them to be their very best for her, for Bernice, and for the greater good.

In Kara’s honor, please consider making a contribution to the educational fund for her four-year-old daughter, Bernice O. Smith. To do so, visit the website below (under the section "Donations") and use the code 34R-H4U.