Robyn Sweaney was born in Melbourne and currently lives in Murwillumbah on the north coast of NSW. Sweaney’s art practice excavates the complexities of Australian identity and place by responding to the suburban mundane of rural and urban environments.
Sweaney has been the finalist of awards including in the Wynne Prize, Sulman Prize, Portia Geach Memorial Award, Moran Portrait Prize, Salon Des Refusés, The Ravenswood Australian Womens Art Prize, Tattersall’s Landscape Prize, Fleurieu Art Prize, Mosman Art Prize, Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Paddington Art Prize and the JADA Drawing Prize.
In 2019 she was awarded the Trustees Watercolour Award in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW. Her work is held in public and private collections throughout Australia, such as The State Library of NSW, the Australian Parliament House Art Collection, Artbank, HOTA, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Stanthorpe, Grafton and Lismore Regional Galleries.