
Marcia Swaby
·¡³¾²¹¾±±ô:Ìým.swaby@unsw.edu.au
Supervisors:ÌýBianca Hester, Fernando do Campo
Marcia Swaby is a British Jamaican artist and PhD candidate at ºÚÁÏÍø´óʼÇ, whose interdisciplinary practice spans jewellery, video, ceramics, and installation. Her research explores hapticity, decoloniality, and diasporic identity through practice-led methodologies. Her current project investigates the cultural and material significance of guanÃn, an ancient Caribbean alloy, as a site of embodied knowledge and ancestral memory. Marcia’s approach centres tactile making and sonic feedback as forms of resistance and relationality, challenging colonial narratives through material engagement. She was awarded the faculty Dean’s Award for her MPhil thesis Haptic Tactility, and has taught across art and design programs since 2017.
She currently serves as HDR Faculty Representative for ºÚÁÏÍø´óʼǒs School of Art & Design, co-representing with Tom Wilma. Their respective research interests—Marcia’s in embodied material practice and Tom’s in media and technology studies—reflect a shared commitment to interdisciplinary thinking and inclusive research cultures.
- Research area
- Research outputs
Re-performing GuanÃn: Crafting a Practice of Embodied and Materially Driven Jewellery-Making in Dialogue with Indigenous Caribbean Craft Legacies
- 2023 – Looking at Gold, Tamworth Regional Gallery, NSW
- 2023 – Looking at Gold, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney
- 2022 – Insole/Soul, Sydney Craft Week, Windowsmiths
- 2021 – Murmuration, Australian Design Centre
- 2021 – Flux (Online Video), Sydney Craft Week, Australian Design Centre
- 2020 – Change Makers, Sydney Craft Week, Australian Design Centre
- 2020 – The Cooked & the Raw, Delmar Gallery, Sydney
- 2019 – Text to Contexture, Squarepegs Studios, Sydney
- 2019 – Do You Hear the People Sing?, Metro Arts, Brisbane
- 2018 – Exegesis: Haptic Tactility (Solo), AD Space, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2018 – Les Misérables’18, Kudos Gallery, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2017 – Under Pressure, Figure & Two Figures, Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia
- 2017 – Jewellery: as archaeological emblems, Sydney Craft Week, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2016 – Secret 7: In-dent Faces (Cimú), AD Space, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2016 – Prelude 1.1, Girl Genius: Roundtable, Kudos Gallery, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2015 – Figures, Kudos Emerging Artist & Designer, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2014 – Ontogeny: Pores, Kudos Gallery, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
Ìý
- 2021 – Artists' Talk: Murmuration – A Pliable Formation, Australian Design Centre, Sydney
- 2019 – Profile 19, Sydney Craft Week, SquarePegs, Sydney
- 2018 – Q&A Session – Les Misérables’18, Kudos Gallery, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design
- 2017 – Under Pressure, Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia
- 2016 – Prelude 1.1, Girl Genius: Roundtable, Kudos Gallery, ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Art & Design