UNSW GalleriesPaddington
Heather B. Swann: The Forests of Symbols
Newly commissioned and rarely seen sculpture, painting and drawing by Heather B. Swann, the first in a final series exploring symbolism and allegory.
Mehr in Sydney
In a corner of Gallery 1 stands a small wooden dog with its tail between its legs, held together by a linen coat and fine lines of copper tacks. Crouch down and you meet its eyes, which Meanjin's critic Fiona Kelly McGregor found "full of fear and submission". Lucky boy is from 2007. Nearly everything else here is new, made for an $80,000 commission that Swann calls the first in a final series of her lifetime.
The show runs from the foyer through an antechamber and four galleries. Big paintings on plywood panels stand on the floor, deep fields of black, red and Prussian blue where a small robed woman in profile keeps turning up. Gallery 2 is mostly emerald green, and the end gallery belongs to birds.
McGregor called it "luminous, haunting". Swann says she wanted poetry, art to "go slow, read things quietly". Entry is free, Wednesday to Friday 10am to 5pm and weekends from noon, until 22 November.
Tipp der Redaktion
Neu in Auftrag gegebene und selten zu sehende Skulpturen, Gemälde und Zeichnungen von Heather B. Swann – die erste einer abschließenden Reihe zu Symbolismus und Allegorie.
Nicht verpassen
Ladybird (2025)
Flanking the entrance to the main space, a canvas over two metres wide, black and riven by fire at the top, with a tiny blue-robed woman turning her white face to you.
Would I lie to you (2026)
A black bench on curved forged-steel legs that nobody can sit on, because giant red lips carved from reclaimed Oregon wood take up its whole length.
Josefine (2023)
In the antechamber, a little motorised marionette capers at floor level to a spooky soundtrack by saxophonist Christina Leonard.
I will not remember your name (2018)
A set of white walking sticks hung with tiny heads, each one different, which McGregor rated the best work in its gallery.
Night birds (2026)
In the end gallery, a group of black lacquered owls and two crows, the birds many cultures read as messengers of death.
Gut für
- Kultur für wenig Geld
- Allein unterwegs
- Stadtkenner
Nichts für dich, wenn
You want art that answers the news: Swann says she set out to make poetry, not politics.
Mehr Ausstellungen: UNSW Galleries
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Bildnachweise
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- 2026 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the YearImage: Lewis Burnett © Lewis Burnett (Conditional use only for AGNPY)
- Andy Ewing: Ahnengeister / Kirthana Selvaraj: Im Halbdunkel (Andy Ewing: Ancestor Spirits / Kirthana Selvaraj: In the Half Light)© The Estate of Andrew Ewing
- Just Because: CAO YuCourtesy the artist and Galerie Urs Meile. Photo: Yang Hao
- National Art School GallerySardaka / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
- Australian Museumwuppertaler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian ArtChris Olszewski (Kgbo), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- ArtspaceUser6499 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0