@shanswinburn
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
2025
Brass, Aluminium, & Rayon
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