Gio Swaby

My work revolves around an exploration of identity, more specifically, the intersections of Blackness and womanhood. I am interested in the ways in which this physical identity can serve as a positive force of connection and closeness, while also examining its imposed relationship to otherness.

Each piece I create continues to build upon an integral aspect of my practice: to contribute to the visibility of Blackness in the art world. At many points in our lives, Black women can live within a paradox of hypervisibility and yet still not feeling truly seen. I want my work to function as a love letter of sorts to Black women, to create space for us not only to be represented but to be celebrated.

Expo Chicago, Stand 107

April 7, 2022 to April 10, 2022

Navy Pier, Chicago IL

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Claire Oliver Gallery is thrilled to announce our return to Chicago for a long-overdue in-person celebration of art. At this inception of EXPO CHICAGO, the Gallery will bring major new works by artists Gio Swaby, Robert Peterson, Adebunmi Gbadebo, and Stan Squirewell. These artists whose practices vary but share a commonality in their desire to reframe the often-politicized Black body.

In addition to these powerful voices the Gallery will present a special exhibition, "The Lost Negatives," the works of photographer Jeffery Henson Scales. Historically significant, culturally cool, and artistically framed, the works transcend the view into the artist's unique vantage point to history. The exhibition features photographs from the 1960s including Henson Scales’ earliest forays as a photographer during the electrifying summer of 1967 when, at age 13, he toured the Midwest to see relatives in Chicago. As a Black teenager, he saw the poverty and oppression of Northern Black communities and when he returned to Oakland, CA became immersed in photographing the milieu of the Black Panther movement in Northern California. These images chart the emergence of his awakening as a documentary photographer as well as a Black man in a pivotal moment in the 20th century that echoes today’s Black Lives Matter movement.

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UNTITLED ART, Miami Beach 2021

November 29, 2021 to December 4, 2021

Miami Beach, FL

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CLAIRE OLIVER GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT POINT OF CONTACT, AT UNTITLED MIAMI
The Four Person Exhibition Will Feature New Works by Gallery Artists
Barbara Earl Thomas and Gio Swaby and Debuting Works by Gallery Newcomers Robert Peterson and Stan Squirewell
On View at Untitled Miami, November 29 – December 4, 2021

Point of Contact features the work of four artists whose practices vary but share commonality in their desire to reframe the often politicized Black body. Featuring figuration across mediums including Thomas’s signature polychrome cut paper, Swaby’s thread line
drawings on textile and polychrome quilt portraits, Peterson’s monumental oil on canvases and Squirewell’s mixed media photo collage, each work presents an opportunity for engagement where the art historical “gaze” is reversed and viewers are met as equals. The four artists use their works as a striking rebuke to white supremacy, eschewing negativity, they uplift by depicting their community in beauty, joy, and power as the ultimate form of resistance

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1-54 Contemporary, London 2021

October 14, 2021 to October 17, 2021

Somerset House, London

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"A major aspect of Ms. Swaby’s practice is using her work as a celebration. For her, being joyful as a Black woman, as well as connecting and sharing in that joy with other Black women, is a form of resistance. “What I’m trying to achieve, over all, is to have that moment of joy with the viewer, and understanding that Black joy can actually be a form of resistance to white supremacy,” she said."

-Mr. Pierre-Antoine Louis from The New York Times

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Gio Swaby: Both Sides of the Sun

April 10, 2021 to June 5, 2021

Claire Oliver Gallery

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Four Now; Leonardo Benzant, Barbara Earl Thomas, Adebunmi Gbadebo & Gio Swaby

December 1, 2020 to January 23, 2021

Claire Oliver Gallery

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Four Now Is A Presentation of The Gallery’s Booth at Untitled Art Fair,
Telegraphing the Excitement of Miami Art Week To Claire Oliver’s Harlem Headquarters
With A Dynamic Program of Virtual Talks

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Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Museum of The Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA
Museum of The Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Harper House, Detroit, MI
Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
The Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN

Solo Exhibitions

Both Sides Of The Sun, Claire Oliver Gallery 2021
Rooted: An Exploration of Blackness and Womanhood –
The Current | Nassau, Bahamas – 2018
We All Know Each Other – Unit/Pitt Projects | Vancouver, BC – 2017

Selected Group Exhibitions

FOUR NOW, Claire Oliver Gallery 2020
Net Worth – UNITED CONTEMPORARY | Toronto, ON – 2020
Transforming Spaces – The D’Auguilar Art Foundation | Nassau, Bahamas – 2019
Die Textile: Stoffsuche – Kunsthaus Alte Mühle | Schmallenberg, Germany – 2018
5th Annual Art Competition – Central Bank of The Bahamas |
Nassau, Bahamas – 2018
Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series (Vancouver Finals) – Gallery Jones |
Vancouver, BC – 2018
Going Out Clothes – Cheeky Proletariat | Vancouver, BC – 2018
Übersee: Cuba and The Bahamas – Halle 14 | Leipzip, Germany – 2017
National Exhibition 8 – National Art Gallery of The Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas – 2016
Graduate Exhibition – Emily Carr University of Art & Design | Vancouver, BC – 2016
Nassau Calling – HilgerBROTKunsthalle | Vienna, Austria – 2015
Black Girl in Unnatural Habitat – Abraham Rogatnick Gallery | Vancouver, BC – 2015
32nd Annual Art Competition – Central Bank of The Bahamas | Nassau, BahamasMap of the New Art – Giorgio Cini Foundation | Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice – 2015\National Exhibition 7 – National Art Gallery of The Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas – 2014
Intersect: Junior Residency Artists’ Exhibition – Popopstudios ICVA | Nassau, Bahamas – 2013
Celebrating 40 Years of Bahamian Independence – Bahamian Embassy | Beijing, China – 2013
SINGLESEX – National Art Gallery of The Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas – 2013
Harry C. Moore Library Mural Project – The College of The Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas -2012
Independence Invitational – Central Bank of The Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas 29th Annual Art Competition – Central Bank of The Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas -2012
Transforming Spaces – The Hub | Nassau, Bahamas -2012
Transforming Spaces – The Pro Gallery | Nassau, Bahamas; Bahamas International Film Festival | Nassau, Bahamas – 2011

Awards and Distinctions

BC Arts Council Grant – Project Assistance for Visual Artists | 2020
Emily Carr University – President’s Media Award for Best Art Installation | 2016
Emily Carr University of Art & Design – Scholarship | 2015
Charitable Arts Foundation – Tuition Grant | 2014
Ministry of Education of The Bahamas – Tuition Grant | 2013
Popopstudios ICVA – Junior Artist Residency Prize | 2013
College of The Bahamas – Tuition Bursary | 2011

Articles and Reviews

Cascone, Sarah. Meet Artist Gio Swaby, the 29-Year-Old Phenom Whose Sold-Out Debut Boasted Buyers Including Eight Museums (and Roxane Gay), news.artnet.com, June 4, 2021
Louis, Antoine-Pierre. A Love Letter to Black Women, New York Times, April 10, 2021

Download Biography

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/Dialogues: Textile Artists Now

Panelists | Gio Swaby (Artist), Kimberli Gant (Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art | Brooklyn Museum), LJ Roberts (Artist). Moderated by Michelle Millar Fisher (Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

Gio Swaby: Visual Artist Centers on Black Joy as a Radical Act | Juneteenth Artist Showcase | OWN

As the daughter of a seamstress, Bahamian-born artist Gio Swaby says she grew up in a house that was teeming with colorful fabrics and threads. Today, Swaby uses textiles to convey the beauty, power and joy of Black womanhood.

2021 Distinguished Artist Series

Claire Oliver of Claire Oliver Gallery interviews fiber artists Gio Swaby and Adebunmi Gbadebo for the James Renwick Alliance for Craft 2021 Distinguished Artist Series.