Lisa Swerling
Inspired by the power of the miniature to communicate big ideas, experiences and feelings, I’ve made thousands of tiny worlds in boxes called Glass Cathedrals.
Born in Cape Town, I moved to London as a teenager. I graduated in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University in 1994, followed by a year studying art at Central St. Martins, London. This detour led me on to a very unusual life path including living on a desert island, sleeping with lions, making Glass Cathedrals for decades and most recently, planning and curating Heathbound.
Over the last 22 years, I’ve made thousands of Glass Cathedrals in Cape Town, California, and now London. They’ve been exhibited all over the world, at art fairs and galleries and also on a cruise ship (imagine! such tiny things on such a big ship!), in bookshops and science museums, film and literary festivals. As well as making art that reflects my ideas about being a tiny human wandering around a big planet, I specialise in capturing ordinary people’s stories in their own Glass Cathedral portraits.
I am the curator of Heathbound. My art retrospective memoir A Life in Miniature comes out in 2027.