Heather Sheehan’s Sylta, the Whaling Widow Who Wails (2020–2024) is a visual and verbal narrative composed of a sequence of 40 black-and-white self-portrait photographs, a short story and the costume she sewed by hand. Isolated with an analogue camera and typewriter in a thatch-roofed house on the coast of an island in the North Sea, Sheehan found herself in the role of a whaling captain’s pregnant widow. With the short story, Meeting Sylta, she reveals the stunning synchronicity between a fiction and the experience of its creation. The hardcover book in English and German has been published by Verlag Kettler on the occasion of the exhibition at Sölring - Sylt Museum, island of Sylt, Germany. A 12 minute video of Sheehan reading chapter 1 may be viewed here.
Heather Sheehan’s One Woman, One Stone, (2023) is a sequence of 11 black and white self-portraits combined with a poem. (book) Shooting with an analogue film camera on location in Novigrad-Cittanova, HR, Sheehan isolated herself in the Galerija-Galleria Rigo, Muzej-Museo Lapidarium, dressed in costume for an extended period of time in order to directly engage the spirits of the ancient stones.
78 self-portrait photographs & text, published by MAB Books commensurate the exhibition at Milton Art Bank, Milton, PA.
sample image page from 78 self-portrait photographs & text, published by MAB Books commensurate the exhibition at Milton Art Bank, Milton, PA.
Published by the Kunstverein Augsburg e. V. in the wake of the solo exhibition 'alighting'. This artist's monograph of 88 pages contains 53 self-portrait analogue photographs and essays by renowned art and photography experts, Anne-Marie Bonnet and Klaus Honnef in German and English. ISBN 9783000672316
The sequence title refers to barking, as:
a. to express a guttural cry as that of a dog when outraged, frightened or calling for attention
b. to remove the skin or bark, of a tree, exposing the smooth wood in preparation for use.
and willow, as:
willow:
a. a tree known for its flexible branches used to weave basketry
b. considered to be a witch's tree, source of contraceptive and fever-reducing agent.
The sequence title refers to barking, as:
a. to express a guttural cry as that of a dog when outraged, frightened or calling for attention
b. to remove the skin or bark, of a tree, exposing the smooth wood in preparation for use.
and willow, as:
willow:
a. a tree known for its flexible branches used to weave basketry
b. considered to be a witch's tree, source of contraceptive and fever-reducing agent.