Page 1 — Shannon Swinburn

Shannon Swinburn

Textile Practicioner

shannon.swinburn@gmail.com

@shanswinburn

Shannon Swinburn is an Textile Artist who is currently a resident at The Sarabande Foundation.Dedicated to exploring the intrinsic connections between gender, textiles, and modern-day computing. Her work aims to highlight the often-overlooked contributions of women in emergent technology, utilizing speculation, counterfactual histories, and material storytelling to bring these narratives to the forefront.

She recently graduated from MA Textiles at the Royal College of Art with an MA in Textiles in 2024, having previously graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Graphic Design in 2016.

Awards and Residencies include;The Haberdashers’ Scholarship
(2023), The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation Prize (2024), and The Textile Society Student Bursary Award (2024), The Blackhorse Workshop Residency (2024), The Sarabande Foundation Studio Residency (2024-2025)

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.