Biography and Artist Statement

Shelagh Howard (Canadian, b.1971) is an award-winning photo based visual artist whose work explores time, memory, and the layers of experience carried within the human body.

Working with long exposures and the human figure, her work explores the construction of the self, involving gender, generational trauma, vulnerability, connection, intimacy and isolation.

With an unflinching gaze, she exposes the veneer of constructed identities to glimpse the tender self beneath. Through long exposures, she conjures images that weave together motion and stillness, capturing the fleeting ghosts of our selves, briefly unmasking what lingers behind our carefully built walls.

A Toronto native, Shelagh studied psychology at The University of Toronto, and photography at Ryerson University, and has since created and exhibited works in Canada, the US and Europe, building a strong professional reputation. She has been published in Songlines Magazine UK, Opera Canada, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, VICE magazine, on billboards in Times Square, NYC and Dundas Square, Toronto, and in press and digital media internationally. She received an honourable mention at the 14th Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Awards in Barcelona, Spain. In 2021, she received the 2021 Artist Award from the Cornell Henry Art Gallery in San Diego.