To work with wool is to entangle yourself in its threads - Jess Swney’s tufted rug ‘paintings’ working as a manifestation of her hands - each stitch acting as a mark of care, time and self. Embracing the subtleties of flaw and human presence behind each work to discuss self-discovery, unconscious biases and vulnerability.

Holding a First Class Honour in Fine Arts from Massey University, the Tāmaki Makaurau based artist is grounded in an intergenerational connection to textiles, as she floats between abstraction and realism. Creating a softness with wool tufted illustrations depicted in a deep, bold colour palette, that simultaneously reminisce on the tradition of textile craft, while concurrently using it to speak to contemporary womanhood. How we face society, and how society faces back to us.

Exhibitions

Seedlings, Group Show, 25 October – 15 November 2025
Pairs, Group Show, 4 – 20 September 2025
Playground, Group Show, 22 March – 12 April 2025
Brackish Water, Group Show, 29 September – 7 October 2023

EXTERNAL EXHIBITIONS

The Daylight Show (Föenander Galleries, 2024)
Under the Table (Föenander Galleries, 2024)
They Whippy (Föenander Galleries, 2024)
Exposure (Massey University, 2023)

ART FAIRS

Spring 1883 Art Fair (Föenander Galleries, 2025)

RESIDENCIES

AIR Sefrou (Morocco, 2025)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Homestyle Magazine (August/September Issue 2025)
Denizen Magazine, 10 up-and-coming artists to have on your radar (July 2025)