Gio Swaby, “Fresh Up”
I was really blown away when I saw the work of Gio Swaby, in her “Fresh Up” solo show at the Museum of Fine Art, in St. Petersburg, FL!
The introductory text for the exhibit says “Swaby’s work functions as love letters to Black women.” I think that’s it, exactly! Just take a look.
Isn’t this woman confident and powerful?
As you can see, Swaby uses black stitching to draw her subjects on canvas. The pieces are life-sized, which gives them a lot of presence.
Swaby states that the exhibit subtitle, “Fresh Up,” is “a Bahamian way to describe someone who is particularly stylish – also used to give props to the wearer. I love the uplifting nature of this phrase.”
In some cases Swaby has shown the back of the piece, allowing the viewer to see thread lines that have been carried from feature to feature.
Those faces!
Those poses!
I am totally smitten with this work!
Unfortunately, the exhibit has moved on, but you can see more with these resources:
The exhibit book
An ABC news video
A Fox 13 news video
Ellen Lindner
