practice
overview
Catriona Galbraith and Suzanne Swann are a collaborative art practice based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. They have been finalists in major national art prizes including the Blake Prize, Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, Tattersalls Contemporary Art Prize, Waverley Art Prize, Remagine Art Prize and Toorak Sculpture Exhibition.
Galbraith and Swann began collaborating in 2023, bringing together decades of individual practice. Their work combines sculptural and textile forms using recycled and found materials, addressing issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and deforestation. They exhibit regularly with the Naarm Textile Collective and in selected exhibitions.
approach
Galbraith and Swann explore systems of connection—environmental, material and human. Through processes of collection and transformation, recycled and found materials are recontextualised into complex, interdependent forms. Tensions between deterioration and resilience emerge in structures that echo natural and constructed networks, from forest ecologies to global infrastructures.
Their work combines fibres, plastics and metals, rethinking both aesthetic and structural possibilities alongside the materials’ original purposes and embedded histories. Textiles are central to many projects. Through labour-intensive processes of stitching, binding and layering, forms develop that suggest growth, accumulation and entanglement over time.
Positioned within contemporary environmental discourse, the work reflects cycles of consumption and renewal, proposing alternative ways of valuing materials and relationships. The works invite consideration of how elements—like people and systems—are bound together in ways that are both resilient and precarious.
Artists
Suzanne Swann (b. 1964) was born and educated in Nipaluna/Hobart (B.Ed., University of Tasmania; Cert. Design (Dux), Elizabeth College). Catriona Galbraith (b. 1966) was born and educated in Naarm/Melbourne (B.A. (Hons), LL.B. (Hons), University of Melbourne).
Both artists maintain cross-media practices. Suzanne has worked extensively in textiles, paper and costuming, while Catriona’s background includes sculpture, painting and photography.
They also bring significant experience in arts administration and education. Suzanne is a qualified art teacher with experience across diverse ages and abilities. Catriona is a qualified lawyer with experience in policy and governance, and has held board roles in arts organisations, including as current Secretary and former President of the Malvern Artists’ Society.
‘Silva Areæ II’, Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, South Australian Museum, Adelaide (Center, Katie Keast LHS, Jane Price RHS)