Matthew Swarts is an American photographer and digital artist based in Somerville, Massachusetts. He creates composite images from photographs and imagery drawn from a broad range of digital sources. His work examines photography’s traditional claim to truth within an era of pervasive digital media and image manipulation.

Swarts received an A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University, followed by an MFA in Photography and Digital Imaging from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 1997. His early series, CHILDREN WITH CANCER (1996–2000), was made collaboratively with young patients in Boston-area hospitals and focused upon the individuality of its subjects rather than their illnesses.

In UNTITLED (2004), Swarts developed a visual grammar from internet search-result imagery , treating the web as “a giant camera.” BETH (2014) and THE ALTERNATIVES (2014–2019) emerged first from the end of a relationship and later from the formation of a new one. Across the two projects, he digitally dissolves and layers portraiture with scientific diagrams, objects associated with mathematics, and optical illusions. Wired described this work as “psychedelic,” while the Humble Arts Foundation called the images “psychoactive masterpieces.”

His ongoing BRANCHES series (2021–present) investigates the geometry of tree limbs.  More recent video works—including SPAWN (2025) and TWELVE (2025)—use patterned still images produced through text-to-image models and artificial intelligence processes.

A Fulbright Scholar and the recipient of a Ruttenberg Arts Foundation award for outstanding new work in portraiture, Swarts has taught at Amherst College, Bowdoin College, the University of Massachusetts Boston, the University of Connecticut, and Ramapo College of New Jersey, among other institutions.

His photographs are held in several collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Library of Congress, the George Eastman Museum, and the Princeton University Art Museum. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Wired, Slate, Dear Dave, DoubleTake, and many other publications.

References

Hostetler, Lisa (2016). A Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age. George Eastman Museum, pp. 160–163. ISBN 9780935398182.

Salas, Alexis (2005). “Fiction as a Higher Truth: The Photography of Matthew Swarts.” Contact Sheet, 132 (Light Work).

Matthews, Katherine October (2015). “Alternatives: An Interview with Matthew Swarts.” GUP Magazine, no. 45.

Saint Louis, Catherine (September 10, 2000). “What They Were Thinking: Karen Edna Wallstein, Campbell Village, USA., Copake, NY.” The New York Times Magazine.

Schiller, Jakob (January 28, 2015). “An Artist Copes With a Breakup by Erasing His Ex in Photoshop.” Wired.

Frailey, Stephen (2022). “Matthew Swarts.” Dear Dave, no. 28, cover and interior feature.

Swarts, Matthew. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston collection search.

Swarts, Matthew. “Children with Cancer.” Library of Congress.

Rosenberg, David. “This Photographer’s Creative Way of Processing a Relationship.” Slate.

Feinstein, Jon. “Matthew Swarts Transforms Intimate Portraits into Psychoactive Masterpieces.” Humble Arts Foundation.

Fulbright Scholar Directory. Fulbright Scholar Program.

Coles, Robert (1998). “A Witness to Courage.” DoubleTake (Spring 1998).

Kopeikin, Paul. “Matthew Swarts: Beth and the Alternatives.”

Poshtarov, Valery. “The Alternatives.” PhotoAnthology Foundation, Sochi, Russia.

“Matthew Swarts: American Digital Artist and Photographer.” Perplexity.