Gio Swaby is a multidisciplinary artist whose textile-based practice explores the intersections of Blackness and womanhood.
Her embroidered portraits are anchored in the connections she forges with her subjects: each portrait begins with a photo shoot in which her sitters are captured in a moment of self-awareness and empowerment.
On view now at the Art Institute of Chicago, Fresh Up is Gio Swaby's first solo museum show. It was co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, and co-curated by Melinda Watt and Katherine Pill. Melinda is the chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago, and she will join us for this talk.
