Heather B. Swann

Heather B. Swann (born 1961 in Hobart, Tasmania) is an Australian contemporary artist known for her expressive surrealist sculptural objects, alongside paintings, ink drawings and performance work. Swann is interested in the human condition, ‘the intensity of emotions and passions, our deep longing, our desire, our sensuousness and our sensuality’. She has received significant recognition for her work, which is held in prominent collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Barbara Tribe Travelling Art Scholarship, Paris (2025)

Setouchi Triennale Commission, with Nonda Katsalidis (2022)

Paul Guest Drawing Prize (2014)

Goddard Sapin-Jaloustre Scholarship, France (2005)

Rosamund McCulloch Scholarship, University of Tasmania, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France (1998)

From the Other Side, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2023-2024)

The National 4: Heather B. Swann, Art Gallery of New South Wales (2023)

Leda and the Swan, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria (2021-2022)

Know my name: Australian women artists 1900 to now, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2021 - 2022)

I LET MY BODY FALL INTO A RHYTHM, BuOY Arts Centre, Tokyo, Japan and The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia (2017-2018)

Nervous, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2017)

Paul Guest Drawing Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo (2014)

Solitaire, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria (2014)

Louise Bourgeois and Australian Artists, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2012)

Seven Things To Do In An Emergency, The British School at Rome, Rome (2011)

Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (finalist), Woollahra, Sydney (2007 & 2006)

National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2001)