Broken Boxes is thrilled to present a very special conversation with the prolific artist Caledonia Curry, known globally as SWOON. In speaking with Broken Boxes producer Ginger Dunnill during the opening of Seven Contemplations at CONTAINER in Santa Fe, NM, Callie reflects on how art has been a healing practice for her throughout life. She talks about her pivot from art school to street art, in a time before the genre’s fame in the global art market and untangles the complexity of being a woman artist in male dominated spaces of that time, while giving credit to the continued brilliance of the next generation who are teaching us the expanse of the gender spectrum. We end our conversation with notes on the impact of accessing and valuing experiences of artists who came before, such as a mentor of hers, Judy Chicago. In closing, Callie offers a bit of fearless inspiration, imploring us as artists to always “follow the impulse” in order to unlock the next gift and adventure.

Caledonia Curry, known as Swoon, is a contemporary artist and filmmaker recognized around the world for her pioneering vision of public artwork.Through intimate portraits, immersive installations and multi-year community based projects, she has spent over 20 years exploring the depths of human complexity by mobilizing her artwork to fundamentally re-envision the communities we live in toward a more just and equitable world. She is best known as one of the first women Street Artists to gain international recognition in a male-dominated field, pushing the conceptual limits of the genre and paving the way for a generation of women Street Artists.

Her recent work has been focused on the relationship of trauma and addiction. Through community partnerships that center compassion and the transformative power of art, Curry draws on her personal history growing up in an opioid addicted family as a catalyst for connection and healing. Over the past 10 years, she has founded and developed collaborative multi-year projects in Braddock and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Komye, Haiti, that address crises ranging from natural disasters to the opioid epidemic.

She is currently developing a full length narrative movie which will bring together drawing, immersive installation, stop motion animation and her collaborative work, with the traditions of storytelling through film.

Website: https://swoonstudio.org
IG: https://www.instagram.com/swoonhq/

Swoon’s Seven Contemplations retrospective exhibition is now on view at the new art space, CONTAINER in Santa Fe, NM. Special thanks to Tonya Turner Carroll and Michael Carroll for supporting us with space to conduct this interview in the gallery.

Image: SWOON’s Seven Contemplations at Albright-Knox Northland, 2021

Song featured on this episode: What They Call Us by Fever Ray
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