GIO SWABY: I WILL BLOSSOM ANYWAY

19 May 202319 May 2023 Redazione

*Featured photo: Installation view of Gio Swaby’s Together We Bloom at Claire Oliver Gallery

May 19 – July 15, 2023
CLAIRE OLIVER GALLERY
2288 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.
New York, NY 10030

OPENING FRIDAY NIGHT 6-8 pm
Vernissage Party with the Artist Tomorrow, Friday, May 19th, 6-8 pm

I Will Blossom Anyway Coincides with the Artist’s Second Solo Museum Exhibition, Fresh Up, On View at the Art Institute of Chicago – through July 3, 2023

The exhibition I Will Blossom Anyway features life-scale textile works including six self-portraits and a grid work of nine silhouettes. This new series explores the concept of dual identities and the cognizance of “other” experienced by immigrants living in a foreign culture. Through detailed sewn line drawing and quilting, Swaby conveys intimacy and beauty in the humanity and imperfection of her subjects. The artist displays the back sides of her canvases to the viewer as the finished work to showcase the knots and loose threads, which signify the sitter’s ongoing journey of life. In I Will Blossom Anyway, Swaby turns this reflection and loving gaze inward, an introspective view of her own journey. The works will be on view in Harlem May 19 – July 29, 2023

“In this series, I reflected a lot on my own path and started to recognize how many parts of myself exist in the in-between spaces. In-between many cultures, being born and raised in The Bahamas, and spending much of my adult life in Canadian cities. In-between many selves, having experienced many versions of who I am today and feeling conflicted about which parts to share and which parts to keep hidden — who I should be at home in The Bahamas, and who I should be at home in Toronto,” says Gio Swaby. “This work marks an exploration of those in-between spaces and multiple selves — it is a visual manifestation of my ongoing journey of striving to approach all of these parts with acceptance and love. It is learning to embrace the dualities that exist within me through a process that emphasizes accountability and compassion.”