she/her
Susan Swirsley
I use historical and contemporary photographic processes to translate digital, film, and camera-less images onto paper, fabric, acrylic, and other surfaces. Resourcefulness, experimentation, and the use of out-of-date materials, such as expired paper, and botanical remnants are integral to my practice. I create works ranging from intimate to large-scale, such as handmade books, prints, and installations.
I examine and question how photographic images function, what they represent and what we expect from them. My work is focused on the unpredictable intersection of abstract and representational images. Process, materiality, illusion, light, time, and the juncture of chance and preservation in photographic images play an important role in my artistic practice. I harness elements of chance by using photographic paper and chemicals in unexpected ways, pushing them beyond their intended functions. Experimentation shapes my practice, leading to an expanded version of photography, one that includes methods, materials and ideas more closely related to printmaking and painting.
A Certain Blue, 2025.
Archival inkjet print on Japanese paper, 35 × 31 in.
Infinite Blue, 2025.
Archival inkjet print on Japanese paper, 35 × 30 in.
Luminescence, 2024.
Archival inkjet print on Japanese paper, 35 × 27 in.
Birth of the Simple Light, 2025.
Archival inkjet print on Japanese paper, 13 × 19 in.
Tectonic Plates, 2025.
Archival inkjet print on Japanese paper, 35 × 24 in.