Symphony D. Swan- Zawadi (she/her) is an interdisciplinary ( painting, printmaking, photography and filmmaking) artist who explores themes of family, identity, community and place to story tell and document the beautifully complex nuances of family and relationships.
Symphony centers and leverages her experience as a Black woman and mama to create collaborative art making experiences filled with storytelling, meaningful conversation and community building. Her current body of work, inspired by the loss of both her parents, uses her own family archival photos to interrogate and visualize conversations between photographs of people, place and time. Her practice is about activating the stories deeply rooted in photos, making space for memories and relicing in the nostalgia that those photos hold. Her practice has taught her about the magic of a good story and how they teach us how to exist in each other's worlds…how to explore each other's imagination. A good story, and all its characters, act as bridges that build connections from our past and build toward a healing future. Ultimately, her process is about the juxtaposition between images and stories, and exploration of the human, familial connections, or love. Families (birth or chosen) are beautifully complex and her work reveals those layers to make space for vulnerability, courageous conversations and healing. |