The Old World by Emily Sheffer

Issue 84

I make photographs in an attempt to understand the disorienting duality of the self – the random bubbling up of the mysterious unconscious into the strict reality of the conscious. Unyielding, the conscious constantly remains in the forefront of the waking mind, while, in subterfuge, the unconscious rules behind a thick curtain of mystery.

Self-portraits reveal solitude and stillness of time. It is impossible to place the subject in any certain reality. There is no specific time or place, only a dazed and fragmented mirror world. The subject appears calm on the surface - an idealized and romanticized view of the self. But, deeper inspection reveals a tension below the surface.

A bucolic view of an uneasy natural world, the quiet turbulence of a domestic space that is frozen in time, the daze of self-reflection trapped within the day dream, and the locked mysteries of the place-less landscape of dreams create a world apart - one that allows for the constant search of the unseen. 

Emily Sheffer lives and works in Boston, MA.
To view more of Emily's work, please visit her website.