Swanson, Amber Hawk

American, b. 1980

BiographyStarting with sorority sisters and ending with her own mother, Amber Hawk Swanson scripts her ten videos from the Feminism? project from edited interviews with a variety of women. Their original responses to the topic of feminism range from naïve surprise to composed discourse, but become flip one-liners and ironic ramblings when voiced by Swanson in valley-girl intonation and enacted in provocatively sexual contexts.

Amber Hawk Swanson holds an MFA in studio arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2006) and two BFA degrees from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, one in art and design and the other in graphic design (both 2002). Her work has been screened in Chicago at Reeling Festival: The 25th Annual Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival and in Conversations At The Edge at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago. Exhibitions and performances also include Re-Do It? Re-presenting Bodies in Performance (a two-day performance symposium) at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; One Pull, One Yank, Three Jerks at Gallery X, Chicago; and 6th Student International Art Biennial, Museum of the City of Skopje, Macedonia.