Lindy McSwan
Lindy McSwan — 'Women’s Work – A Labour of Love #1', 2025
The fabric-like texture of McSwan's vessel's surface is created using an adaptation of a traditional Korean and Japanese metal inlay technique. A finely sharpened steel chisel is hammered rhythmically onto mild steel sheet in a repetitive, physically demanding process-each square centimetre bearing more than forty chisel strikes. While creating these surfaces, McSwan reflected on the long hours of labour endured by the Women of Steel in the textile and clothing sweatshops, where they sought to make a living while aspiring to higher-skilled, better-paid, and more secure work.
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Lindy McSwan was born, lives, and works in Naarm / Melbourne, Australia. Her creative practice developed through the study of gold and silversmithing and has evolved to encompass a broad palette of materials, including steel at various stages in its life cycle, from collected iron ore to found rusted steel objects, cardboard, handmade pigments and fabric.
Lindy was a recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart Grant in 2015. As an Artist in Residence at Bundanon, 2017, working in the Dorothy Dwyer Silversmithing studio, she formed the early ideas for her MFA Research project.
In February 2023, she completed her MFA at RMIT University. The December 2022 issue of Garland magazine features an article by Lindy outlining her interest in the material properties, life cycle, and experimental potential of steel. She was a finalist in the 2022 and 2024 Robert Foster Metal Prize at Craft and Design Canberra, exhibiting works that were outcomes of her research project.
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The Steelworks: Women's Work
18 September - 1 November
The documentary film Women of Steel (2020), directed by Robyn Murphy, recounts the Jobs for Women Campaign, which began in 1980 when women fought for rights to equal employment opportunity at the Port Kembla Steelworks. Repeatedly denied jobs and confined to the underpaid and exploitative textile and clothing industry, they pursued years of legal action against BHP. Their victory led to major changes in employment practices and recognition of women's rights to equal opportunity.
"This history informs my work", The Steelworks: Women's Work.
Read more about the exhibition here:
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Material: mild steel, heat coloured, waxed
Dimensions: approx. 10 x 20 x 11cm
Please note when purchasing, exhibition works are to be collected when exhibition closes.