Geraldine Swayne

Who is Geraldine Swayne?

Geraldine Swayne is a painter who works mainly in miniature in enamel on metal. The pictures' initial charm belie their unsettling and affectionate study of human frailty, hubris and vanity.

She studied Fine Art at Newcastle University from 1985-89 and in 1990 she won a Northern Arts Travel award to paint and make super-8 films about Voodoo in New Orleans, then moved to rural France for a year, living as a portraitist and making a series of large outdoor paintings. In 1992 she moved to the UK and became a pioneer special effects designer at Computer Film Company, in London and later, Los Angeles.

Since 1999, she has made numerous experimental films including the world’s first super-8 to Imax film 'East End', produced by Cathy Shaw, and narrated by Miriam Margolyes with music by Nick Cave. After leaving the film industry in 2004 she worked as an assistant for Jake and Dinos Chapman rebuilding 'Hell'.