Episode 117 features Gio Swaby, a Bahamian visual artist whose practice is an exploratory celebration of Blackness and womanhood. Her work centres on Black joy as a radical act of resistance. It works through the philosophy of love as liberation and explores pathways of healing and empowerment. It allows space for both the strong and soft to coexist.
Swaby is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada. She is currently an MFA candidate at OCAD University in Toronto, where she currently resides.
Photo courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery
Artist https://www.gioswaby.com/
Claire Oliver Gallery https://www.claireoliver.com/artists/31-gio-swaby/overview/
MFA St.Petersburg https://mfastpete.org/exh/gio-swaby/
Art Institute Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artists/117638/gio-swaby
Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/chaddscott/2022/07/05/gio-swabys-love-letters-to-black-women-at-museum-of-fine-arts-st-petersburg/?sh=7e908506a54a
Artnet https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gio-swaby-1973064
WWD https://wwd.com/eye/people/gio-swaby-fresh-up-solo-debut-museum-fine-arts-st-petersburg-textile-art-1235177744/
Harpers Bazaar https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a39629027/gio-swaby-textile-portraits-are-a-love-letter-to-black-womanhood/
Orlando Magazine https://www.orlandomagazine.com/gio-swaby-fresh-up/
