ARTIST PROFILE
HEATHER B. SWANN
3and in 2003 there were the Man Barrow Forkers, a set
of 10 wheel-along sculptures. This was followed by
the Troublemaker exhibition in 2009, which included
the strangely inhabitable Big Koala Head.”
In 2014, Swann went on to win the $15,000 Paul
Guest Prize at Bendigo Art Gallery for her ink and
wash drawing, You Are A Balloon.
One of her best-known works is Nervous, a major
performance installation held at the National Gallery
of Australia in 2016. Featuring nine of Swann’s tow-
ering Banksia Men (2016) sculptures, poetry by Philip
Brophy and a score by composer Thomas Green,
Nervous was the result of two years of collaborative
work exploring intense emotional states.
Reflective of Swann’s detail-orientated way of work-
ing, the Banksia Men are meticulously handcrafted
from strips of black silk gathered together and pulled
into shape with thousands of knots and stitches. Theyhave since been acquired by the Art Gallery of South
Australia for their permanent collection.
In her latest work, Swann continues to incorporate
sculptures made for performance. For several months,
she has been working on an Asialink Arts two-stage
commission that will culminate in an installation
and performance held in Japan and Australia in 2018
and 2019.
Bugelli reveals The Waiting Room is a preview of this.
“The included works [at Auckland Art Fair 2018]
are elements of a major solo exhibition to be held in
Tokyo later this year. Heather’s objects will be animat-
ed by a host of players and I am really pleased I was
able to persuade her to let me preview a couple of th
ese new sculptural performance tools.”❱ MICHAEL BUGELLI GALLERY, HOBART, PRESENTS
WORK BY HEATHER B. SWANN AT AAF 2018, STAND D1.- // Heather B. Swann, Hunch, 2016.
Ink on paper, 56 x 76cm. - // Heather B. Swann, I will not
remember your name, 2018. Wood,
champagne corks, modelling compound,
shellac, dimensions variable.
COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND MICHAEL BUGELLI
GALLERY, HOBART