Shannon Swinburn

shannon.swinburn@gmail.com

@shanswinburn

Shannon Swinburn (b. 1993, Portsmouth, UK) is a London-based textile artist whose practice explores the intersection between craft and computation.

Utilising speculation, counterfactual histories, and material storytelling, Swinburn’s work foregrounds the historically overlooked contributions of women in emergent technology. Her practice uses archival research in order to draw connections between textile processes and early forms of computing – revealing how the skilled labour of women has often been foundational to technological progress, yet has frequently been overlooked.

Working across weaving, metalwork, and physical computing, Swinburn creates speculative artefacts that reinterpret historical narratives embedded within the histories of computation, astronomy, and scientific labour.

Translating archival data in material form, and reconstructing hidden histories, in order to reframe how technological knowledge is remembered.

Awards and Residencies include:

The Weavers’ Award - Cockpit
(2025-2026)
The Sarabande Foundation Studio Residency
(2024-2025)
The Blackhorse Workshop Residency
(2024)
The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize
(2024)
The Textile Society Student Bursary Award
(2024)
The Haberdashers’ Scholarship RCA
(2023)

Selected Group Exhibitions:

Clutch City Craft
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
(2026)
Sincerely
Sarabande Foundation
(2025)
Pinpoint
Sarabande Foundation
(2025)

Education:

MA Textiles, Royal College of Art
BA Graphic Design, Central Saint Martins

IBM 1401
2025
Brass, Aluminium, & Rayon

Investigating the invisible labour of women in modern-day computing, IBM 1401 reclaims the machine’s handwoven magnetic core memory module – popularised in the 1950s and 60s – to reveal the connections between weaving, computation, gender and power.

This artwork recreates the module, and instead encodes woven data derived from an archival image of unidentified women weaving the original core memory planes in 1956.

Through this, IBM 1401 asks questions of whose histories are valued? What data is collected and chosen to be preserved? And whose stories are ultimately remembered?

Images by Sarabande Foundation

Mary
2025
Cotton, Silk, Glass Beads, & Wood

Inspired by a press release that listed the names of some of the women working to weave the CRM modules during the Apollo missions. This module was woven using a binary beading technique and hold the woven memory of craftswomen Mary Julian.

‘Mary Julian crafts woven moon memories’

Images by René Lazový

Space-age Needlework
2024
Cotton & Metal

Inspired by a press release that listed the names of some of the women working to weave the CRM modules during the Apollo missions and referred to them as ‘Space-Age Needleworkers’ This module was woven using the same binary technique as the original modules and reads:

‘Space-age Needleworkers’

Avalable at House of Bandits by Sarabande

Give Me Guidance II
2024
Silk, Wool, Metal

‘Give Me Guidance’ is an ongoing project which platforms the contribution of craftswomen to the NASA Apollo missions, through the hand-weaving of Core Rope Computer Memory Modules.

During these missions skilled craftswomen were hire to hand weave Core Rope Computer Memory Modules. These women worked together to weave binary code around or through a core to determine whether it would represent a one or a zero. The women were nicknamed the ‘LOL Department’ which stood for ‘Little Old Ladies.’Often left out of the narrative of the Apollo Missions the names of some of the women were found in only one press release, which read:’Space-age needleworkers weave rope memories: Vernell Norman, Caroline Butler, Helen Lennon, Edna Walcott, and Mary Julian.’

Through the creation of a frame loom inspired by the Apollo Guidance Computer Model AGC-3 I aim to reweave the narrative of the Apollo Missions by presenting a counterfactual history in which the craftswomen were placed at the forefront of the mission’s new headlines. Supported by a speculative newspaper highlighting the feats of the craftswomen through counterfactual headlines, this new guidance computer weaves and encodes such headlines via binary beading in order to hold and foreground the woven memory of these craftswomen who were integral to these missions. Each panel of the loom represents one of the women, along with their speculative headline, and stores the woven memory of Vernell Norman, Helen Lennon and Edna Walcott.

Give Me Guidance
2023
Steel,Cotton, Wool,

‘Give Me Guidance’explores the contribution of skilled craftswomen during the formation of the Apollo Guidance Computer, through the hand weaving of Core Rope Computer Memory Modules (CRCMM), the project aims to platform untold stories of the role of women in the progression of emergent technology and the journey to reach the moon.By creating a new interactive & participatory loom, inspired by the original NASA CRCMM frame, that seeks to remember the craftswomen and highlight their contribution.

This first iteration of the loom is inspired by the frame originally used to craft the computer modules and was developed to include an interactive sound element.

E-waste Passementrie
2024
Silk, Paper, Electrical Components

The E-waste series seeks to Re-craft the computer. Through using E-waste and applying traditional passementerie techniques to the components found inside the pieces the project presents a series of individually technological portraits of E-waste.

The initial series includes a TV Antenna Weave and a Hairdryer Weave.

Core Rope Memory Modules
2023
Silk, Cotton, Cardboard

A series of Handwoven modules inspired by Core Rope Memory modules.The modules were woven using distorted warp and weft techniques to reflect the intricate lace of the wires of the modules themselves. The colours within these pieces were drawn from vinatge computer manuals and control rooms as shown through early iterations of yarn windings that they were inspired by.