Swoon’s work first began popping up on the streets of New York City around 1999, while she was still in art school. She craved direct engagement with the public, so she placed her art—life-sized portraits of friends, neighbors and family—around the city in unexpected places. Her prints and delicate paper cut-outs allowed her to prepare the pieces ahead of time and wheat-paste them on walls in forgotten corners of the city. Since those early days, her work has appeared in museums and galleries around the world and even floated down the Mississippi on an elaborate raft called Miss Rockaway Armada, as part of her “Swimming Cities” project.