ABOUT
PRACTICE
Catriona Galbraith and Suzanne Swann are an award winning collaborative art practice based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. They have been finalists in many national art prizes, including: Blake Prize, Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, Tattersalls Contemporary Art Prize, Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, Waverley Art Prize, Toorak Sculpture Exhibition, Omnia Art Prize, Remagine Art Prize, MacArthur Cook Art Award and World Year of Physics Art Prize.
Galbraith and Swann began collaborating in 2023, fusing decades of experience in the arts. Their mixed media projects typically feature sculptural and textile elements made from recycled and found materials; engaging in dialogue about issues including climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and deforestation. They exhibit regularly with the Naarm Textile Collective and in select exhibitions throughout Australia.
Background
Suzanne Swann was born (1964) and educated (B.Ed. University of Tasmania, Cert. Design (dux) Elizabeth College) in Nipaluna/Hobart. Catriona Galbraith was born (1966) and educated (B.A. (hons), LL.B. (hons) University of Melbourne) in Naarm/Melbourne. Both have cross media arts practices. Suzanne has worked in textiles, paper and wearable art; whereas Catriona has worked in sculpture, painting and photography.
They are also experienced in arts administration, promotion and education and continue to be involved. Suzanne is a qualified art teacher with experience as an arts educator across different needs and abilities. Catriona is a qualified lawyer with experience as a Board/Committee member of arts organisations. She is the current Secretary and former President of the Malvern Artists’ Society.
APPROACH
Galbraith and Swann explore systems of connection - environmental, material, and human. Drawing on processes of collection and transformation, recycled and found materials are recontextualised as complex, interdependent works. The tension between deterioration and resilience is examined, in relationships that echo natural and constructed networks - from forest systems to global infrastructures.
The works often include unexpected combinations of fibers, plastics and metals. Aesthetic and structural possibilities are reconsidered, together with their original purposes and embedded histories. Textiles are frequently central to the projects. Through labour intensive processes of stitching, binding, and layering, forms are created that suggest growth and entanglement over time.
Positioned within contemporary environmental and social discourse, the work reflects cycles of consumption and renewal, proposing alternative ways of valuing materials and connections through their transformed meanings and relationships. Galbraith and Swann invite consideration of how individual elements - like people and systems - are bound together in ways both resilient and precarious.
‘Aftermath’ @ Glen Eira City Council Gallery (Exposed Reverse)