Morgan Swartz 2025

Abstract

Stories form the backbone of human understanding, spirituality, and cultural evolution. They can expand our conceptual frameworks and excite a desire for deeper knowledge as they push beyond the boundaries of the known into the realm of "what if." In Gary Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters, he suggests that "it is possible that scientists, poets, painters and writers are all members of the same family of people whose gift it is by nature to take those things which we call commonplace and to re-present them to us in such ways that our self-imposed limitations are expanded." To See: The Mystery of the Binding Threads is a project dedicated to the re-presentation of ideas discovered within quantum physics. It draws inspiration from stories I have both read and written over recent years—narratives centered on characters who discover realms where all things emerge from the Weave, a woven network in constant flux, shaped by human choice. Through written and painted works, I crafted a personal cosmology with the Weave at its center. It highlights the ways in which our sensory experience is limited and speculates on ways in which we can see more. Through the act of creation, we have the ability to reveal these mysterious threads of life and potentially manipulate their pattern. Though other mediums provide entry points for understanding the Weave, this series utilizes my primary medium of painting. The works either visualize elements from the accompanying story or interpret the Weave's impact on real-world experience through symbolism.