About Simon Marcus Swale

Born Dunedin, New Zealand. 1975.

My work considers the forces that exist within the global cultural economy and how these impact upon the local. My work is particularly concerned with the city and other spaces of the contemporary urban environment, with particular interest in notions of citizenship and for social relation. I am increasingly drawn to the potential of project based explorations within an expanded field of jewellery practice.

My background in fashion design and education provided an ongoing research interest in the body and adornment as a means of identity construction and resistance. I have written many chapters and articles on fashion, including the relationship between art and (fashion) design, as well as on the challenges of visual culture and representation in the age of social media

EDUCATION

2017-20            Master of Fine Arts candidate (Jewellery and Metalsmithing)

Dunedin School of Art

Otago Polytechnic

2013                 Post Graduate Diploma in Arts (Distinction), (Film and Media Studies),

University of Otago

2011                 Diploma for Graduates (Arts),

University of Otago

2006                 Bachelor of Design (Fashion),

Otago Polytechnic

I have also participated in numerous masterclasses and workshops with esteemed practitioners including Lauren Kalman, Otto Kunzli and Peter Bauhuis

EXHIBITIONS

2019-   Jewellery for Fences (and other bodies). An ongoing jewellery intervention into public spaces

2019     Radiant Pavilion Jewellery Biennale 2019. As part of ‘Clink6 Project’. Grainger Museum, Melbourne.

2018     ‘No Filter.’ Vic Books, Kelburn, Wellington.

            ‘The Short Black Box’.  Performance as part of Dunedin Fringe Festival, Dunedin.

Unbound: The Exhibition’. In association with the Costume and Textile Association of New Zealand Symposium. Dunedin School of Art Gallery, Otago Polytechnic.