"I can't swim" by Marlene Dumas is a work on paper executed in ink and pastel that exemplifies the South African artist's gestural approach to figuration. The work employs Dumas's characteristic loose, expressive mark making to render a human form, with the title introducing a poignant psychological or existential dimension to the visual language. Created during a period in which Dumas was exploring vulnerability and the body as a site of emotional expression, the work demonstrates her ability to convey complex human states through minimal, economical means.