Opening: Charmed: Incantations for Life, Death and Love

SUN & DUST opens Charmed: Incantations for Life, Death and Love, solo show by local multi-media maker and artist, Lori Swartz at 223 1/2 Canyon Road in Santa Fe, NM on July 18, 2025, from 5:00–7:00pm. Swartz, a long-time resident of Madrid, New Mexico, will showcase paintings, ceramic sculpture, written/spoken words and silver talismans all in conversation with each other.

“Do you believe in magic? I believe in words. An incantation is a written or recited formula of words meant to trigger magical effects. They are wishes for myself and everyone I love.”

Swartz’s work is riddled with hidden pockets and secret messages. The work is inspired by mystic incantation bowls of 5th century BCE. Incantations run around the sides of the paintings and show up in both the metal and clay.

“Each painting in this body of work is constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed canvas, dyed with coal from my tiny New Mexico village (Madrid), then stitched back together. I collect the coal from the trails near my house, boil the canvas in it, soak it, rub it, write with it.”

This work dives into Swartz’s queerness, roots in the Madrid community, Jewish family history and mythology. Place and identity are the core of this work. The incantations are secret messages, a form of handwritten encryption, in order to keep the private self separate. In this examination of identity it is important to acknowledge that none of us come from a lineage of the tame.

The work will be shown from July 18 through August 31.

For further information please contact Emily Spykman at SUN & DUST at 505.316.3923 or Lori Swartz at 505.699.2654