ABOUT
ME
Hello, I’m Helen. I am a British/Australian artist, a photographer, a designer, and many other things. But above all, I am human, attempting to make sense of this human experience.
I photograph everyday objects—quiet, overlooked things—and never fail to be moved when they reveal themselves as exquisite abstract art.
Through this shift in perspective—which has had a profound effect on my life—the mundane becomes meaningful, and what once felt lifeless begins to glow with quiet beauty, significance and hope.
Broken surfboards transform into art in Broken Boards
My art practice saved me when all I could see was darkness. It taught me that beauty isn’t something you find—it’s something that is always present, and is something you can learn to see. By changing how I viewed the world, I began to change how I experienced it.
At its heart, my work is about redefining labels and returning to the truth of who we are—before the world told us who we should be.
Photography is my core medium, but I also explore collage, painting, and textile design, each one a thread in the tapestry of what brings me joy and helps me make sense of what matters.
It’s not what
you look at
that matters,
it’s what
you see.
— Thoreau
A cracked kerb becomes beautiful in How the Light Gets In
Like the beauty in the fragmented, my art continues to remind me that we are not broken; we are perfectly imperfect.
Helen Shearwood’s art is a reminder that even in brokenness, there is grace. Through perspective, memory and abstraction, she invites us to see the world–and ourselves–anew.
— Urbane Gazette (Vol 7 Issue 1)