Tufted textiles become unlikely vessels for memory, tension and quiet rebellion in Jess Swney’s new exhibition, where softness disguises a far sharper cultural conversation.

In contemporary art, textiles have finally stepped out from the shadows of craft and into the critical spotlight. Auckland artist Jess Swney is among the voices pushing that shift forward, transforming the humble rug into something far more complex than decoration. Her tufted works, which she describes as rug “paintings”, sit somewhere between tactile sculpture and painterly abstraction, asking viewers to reconsider the hierarchy that has long separated fine art from domestic craft.

Swney’s practice navigates the charged territory of cultural inheritance. Textiles, historically relegated to the realm of women’s work, become her medium for examining the social frameworks young women continue to navigate today. Beneath their richly coloured surfaces, these works explore the subtle negotiations of power, expectation and self-assertion that often sit just beneath the surface of everyday interactions.

The imagery moves fluidly between abstraction and figuration. Shapes emerge and dissolve, sometimes suggesting bodies or landscapes before slipping back into fields of colour and texture. Rather than depicting specific scenes, Swney allows materiality to carry meaning. Wool becomes brushstroke, surface becomes narrative. The result is work that feels instinctive and emotionally charged, hovering at the delicate edge between beauty and unease.

Her wider practice often explores dualities: land and sea, presence and absence, intimacy and entitlement. Those tensions continue here, embedded quietly in shifts of tone, colour and scale.

This latest exhibition also reflects time spent on residency in Morocco, where Swney worked alongside local artisans learning traditional weaving techniques on hand-operated looms. The experience deepened her engagement with ideas of cultural lineage, or the absence of a singular one. Within these works sits a search for collective knowledge in a world that increasingly prioritises the individual.

The result is a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive. Soft to the touch, but conceptually sharp. Rugs, perhaps, but not as anyone has known them before.

Swney is represented by Föenander Galleries in Parnell, Auckland, a contemporary space known for championing artists whose work connects people, ideas and the cultural moment.

Exhibition dates:
23rd April – 12th May 2026

Panel discussion hosted by Karen Walker:
5 pm, Tuesday 28th April

Jess Swney will appear in conversation with Karen Walker at the Karen Walker Flagship store in Britomart as part of a collaboration for the Aotearoa Art Fair.

foenandergalleries.co.nz