Gyeongbuk Gold Painting

Currently on the road. Author, poet and mixed-media artist DJ Swales was born in West Belfast, during the civil war of “The Troubles”. Threats of violence forced him and his teenage mother into exile. He grew up in Germany, Cyprus and England – and moved to Amarillo and Singapore before his 20th birthday. This early transience cemented DJ’s fate as a ‘third culture’ tumbleweed – living in 12 countries and 3 American states. He has worked in jobs and locales as varied as factory lines, Las Vegas casinos, Namdaemun, Fortnum & Masons, gem trading, Changi airport, construction labouring, Wall Street, Paris Fashion Week, and collecting windblown trash at a city dump. All while finding time to paint and write.