Catalina Swinburn b. 1979
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Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, 2021
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Inanna, 2021
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Napir Asu, 2020
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Phoenix, 2020
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No Land, 2019
Born 1979. Santiago, Chile
Lives and works Buenos Aires, Argentina & London, United Kingdom
Catalina Swinburn’s work translates into key messages and universal concerns such as sustainability, identity, gender equality and globalization, underlining the connections of the Global South throughout history. The use of weaving and vintage documents is a vital and dynamic language for raising awareness, both physically and conceptually, while aiming to strengthen the integration between various communities by referencing female resilience. She peruses to rescue ancestral rituals related to sacred places, ancestral geography and original memory. Regenerating these narratives articulates for the artist both a sense of urgency and a mode of resistance. The artwork is therefore activated by the artist’s position as both fabricator and performer of the sculpture. This could be seen as a metaphor for resistance, where woven narratives are portrayed as a substitute for the silence of women throughout history.
Textiles are eloquent expressions of women’s concern with cultural tradition and transmutation, and are recognized as fundamental to studies of gender, social identity, status, exchange and modernization. By using weaving as a metaphor for resistance, her practice brings us closer to our cultural identity and offers an alternative view of the function of art as a vehicle of consciousness by meeting various forms of knowledge, opening a dialogue between conservatism and innovation, between continuity and transmutation.
She received a BA in Fine Arts from the Catholic University of Chile.
Swinburn’s work has been widely exhibited at several institutions, including Centro Cultural Matta, Buenos Aires, Argentina / Museo de la Inmigración, Buenos Aires, Argentina / Mapi Museum, Montevideo, Uruguay / Museo de la Universidad de Antioquia & Museo de la Universidad de Medellin, Medellin / Monnaie du Paris, Pairs, France / MAC Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago de Chile, Chile / MAVI Museo de Artes Visuales, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
Swinburn’s work forms part of many prestigious collections of art, including Pilar Citoler Foundation, Cordoba, Spain / Balanz Capital collection, Buenos Aires, Argentina / Latin American Art Collection Artnexus, Bogotá Colombia / CCu Art Collection, Santiago de Chile, Chile / ICC Contemporary Institue of Culture, Sao Paulo, Brazil / Arte Al Dia Collection, Miami, U.S.A / Rosenblum Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina / Permanent Public Intervention, Vitacura Parks, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
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Devotional Landscapes
CATALINA SWINBURN SOLO EXHIBITION 12 May - 25 June 2025Born in Santiago, Chile, Swinburn lives and works between Buenos Aires & London. The artist’s sculptural paper compositions — crafted from intricately woven vintage documents — explore themes of heritage, identity, and resilience.Read more
Swinburn’s new body of work straddles both archaeological and contemporary languages; it marks a visual recognition of a geography where architectural notes and landmarks are intertwined in her work, interlocking her materials as if they were a mosaic, retracing connections in the Maghreb through Zawiyas. Through extensive research in Gabes, the Medina of Tunis, and various archeological and religious sites in Tunisia, the artist affiliates these sites as conduits of a profound significance of healing and devotion.
The exhibition equally marks the encounter and intersection of two independent practices—Catalina Swinburn and Tunisian artist Mohamed Amine Hamouda—where their materials and ends collaboratively overlap. As part of her research, Swinburn made several trips to Gabès, witnessing Hamouda’s decade-long construction of paper from vegetal scraps in his studio—a space where they jointly created the paper for their shared project. In the mezzanine space, Swinburn weaves together this paper, made from fibres directly from palm trees from the Oasis of Gabès, utilising palm leaves and natural pigments.
Devotional Landscapes runs from 12 May to 25 June 2025. -
Fitzrovia Chapel : Revolutionary Myths, 2023
Catalina Swinburn 3 - 8 October 2023Read more -
Untitled 2
Group Show 16 May - 31 July 2022Read more -
Archaic Contingency
Catalina Swinburn at Cromwell Place, London 6 - 31 October 2021Read more -
Untitled
Group Show 28 September - 15 November 2020Read more -
Narratives of Displacement
Catalina Swinburn 1 - 31 July 2018Read more -
Fissures
Catalina Swinburn 26 May - 17 July 2016Read more -
Portrait redux
Group Show 9 February - 30 March 2014Read more
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Art Basel Hong Kong 2025
BOOTH 1D35 26 - 30 March 2025Selma Feriani returns to Art Basel Hong Kong with a selection of works by Catalina Swinburn M'barek Bouhchichi Yann Lacroix Rafik El Kamel Maha Malluh Nadia Ayari Baya Filwa NazerRead more -
Art Basel Paris
BOOTH G11 16 - 20 October 2024Space: GRAND PALAIS Catalina Swinburn Zineb Sedira Nadia Ayari Filwa Nazer Jessica Boubetra Farid Belkahia Pascal HachemRead more -
Art Basel Hong Kong
GALLERIES / Booth 1D28 28 - 30 March 2024Selma Feriani is delighted to present works by Baya, Farid Belkahia, M'barek Bouhchichi, Pascal Hachem, Nicène Kossentini, Thameur Mejri, Catalina Swinburn and Yann Lacroix.Read more -
Art Basel Hong Kong
ENCOUNTERS / EN12 28 - 30 March 2024No Land: The Water Ceremony CATALINA SWINBURN No Land: The Water Ceremony seeks to rescue an ancestral ritual of gratitude to water in relation to...Read more -
Paris + by Art Basel
GALERIES / Booth E30 19 - 22 October 2023Selma Feriani is delighted to present works by Massinissa Selmani, Zineb Sedira, Maha Malluh, Catalina Swinburn, Pascal Hachem, Amina Saoudi Aït Khay, and Malek Gnaoui.Read more