“I've returned to Aotearoa now, with a desire to dust off my Kiwi identity by taking stock of Aotearoa - and New Zealanders. A remarkable country and people, lost and found, at the earth's edge."
Nigel Swinn attended Wellington Polytechnic School of Design in the seventies and was a contemporary of the artist John Drawbridge. After completing his studies, Swinn voyaged abroad, selling cameras in a Dixons store in Bristol. On his return to Aotearoa, Swinn joined the National Publicity Studios – a division of the New Zealand Tourist and Publicity Department, and the ‘still image’ sister of the National Film Unit.
Swinn’s most recent solo exhibition was described by T.J. McNamara as “both confrontational and meditative”, where scale was deployed to alter our notions about studying and perceiving.
Nigel Swinn has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, showing at the 2013 and 2016 Aotearoa Art Fair, as well as the 2015 Los Angeles Photo Independent. His solo exhibition ‘No Free Man’ at the Gus Fisher Gallery marked the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, with the seminal series later being acquired by the University of Auckland.
Swinn has travelled extensively throughout his career, returning home to Aotearoa to revitalise his own identity both as a New Zealander and as a photographer. He now lives in Pauatanaui, Wellington, with his wife, dog, and 17 acres of wind-beaten Pohutukawa.
"Stillness is magnified by the stunning size of these images. The usual distance between object and viewer is shut down. One enters the face as one might a landscape."