HEATHER B. SWANN

Heather believes in what is underneath. She theorises that our lives are haunted by metaphors and symbols. Very little is what it seems, nothing is set in stone, phenomena shape shift to each and everyones’ vision; determined by cultural knowledge, dreams and wishes and longing; fantasies, superstitions and beliefs. Our underworlds give our lives depth; something to hold on to; poetry to sing and dance with, poetry for both sorrow and delight; story to fill the days and nights.

While Heather’s new Melanie suite of paintings are spare and still, the symbolism is rich. Melanie is an ancient name for the dark. Closely aligned to melancholia, a rich theme in the history of art, these new paintings quietly reach for uncanny metaphor, we know these simple forms well and yet here they are beyond real, they have a surreality. Melanie Katsalidis is the model, named for her dark hair. Melanie is the Founder and Director of the renowned Pieces of Eight Gallery and Melanie Katsalidis Jewellery.

A current obsession with the phrases, ‘the day breaks’ and ‘the night falls’ sees Heather starting on a new series of large abstract night scapes, we present three night fall paintings alongside the Melanie suite.