Ilona Szwarc (Poland, b. 1984) is an artist who works in photography, sculpture, and performance. She explores themes of identity, transformation, and the dopplegänger - an inquiry rooted in her immigrant experience. She received an MFA (Photography) from Yale University and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. In 2021, Szwarc received a Fountainhead Arts Residency in Miami; and an large scale installation of her photographs and sculpture was acquired by the Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, in Miami.
As a female artist with a focus on self-portraiture, Szwarc plays the voyeur of her own experience. An immigrant to the United States whose identity was reformed around another language and home, Szwarc is familiar with what it means to observe oneself; to see oneself clearly through gaps produced by an unfamiliar familiarity.
Recent solo exhibitions include Diane Rosenstein (2021), Make Room (2019) and AALA Gallery (2018) in Los Angeles; and Fort Institute of Photography, Warsaw (2017). Her work was included in group shows at Asia Art Center, Taipei; Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York City; and Nicodim Gallery, Regen Projects, and Shulamit Nazarian Gallery in Los Angeles.