Brandon Sward is an artist, writer, and doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago who lives and works in Los Angeles. He was a quarterfinalist for Ruminate Magazine‘s 2018 VanderMey Nonfiction Prize, was shortlisted for Disquiet International’s 2020 Literary Prize, and was an honorable mention and finalist for the New Millennium Writing Awards. He has been awarded residencies by Alternative Worksite, Byrdcliffe, the Hambidge Center, the Institute for LGBTQ+ Studies, Main Street Arts, NAVE, SloMoCo, the Sundress Academy, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Wassaic Project, and Western Montana Creative Initiatives. His first solo exhibition, How the West was lost, opens at Stone House Art Gallery in October 2021. Group exhibitions include: The Long Dream at the MCA Chicago; a series of small gestures at the Smart Museum; With All Our Might at Carr Center Contemporary; Experimental Film and Video at the CICA Museum; And That Is Where The Bobcat Is Right Now curated by Tiger Strikes Asteroid; Angelespuma at NAVE; Seasons Change at the Wassaic Project; Utopian Living at the Kleinert/James Center; Two Silences Leaning Together at In/Passing; and No Borders On Stolen Land. He has participated in the film festival Release Me through Single Channel VT and one of his prints appeared in Under the Bridge. His criticism can be read in Flash Art, BOMB, The Point, Full Bleed, aqnb, Hyperallergic, Chicago Reader, Chicago Review, Contemporary And, Newcity, Sixty Inches From Center, The Seen, ASAP/J, Post45, Tesserae, Tripwire, Power Clash Art, and Flatpack Publications. He has served as a visiting critic at the University of Chicago, and has spoken or performed at the College Art Association, American Sociological Association, Smart Museum, Nasher Sculpture Center, Southeastern College Art Conference, Universities Art Association of Canada, Royal Anthropological Institute, and Universities of Maryland, Montreal, and Santa Barbara.