An Interview with Alexandra Sheehan, Artist and Writer
Alexandra is quite a remarkable Libra. She recently published her first book of poetry illustrated with her own photographs. We attended her first reading and can’t wait to talk about that, in addition to her ability to weigh, balance, and seek harmony!
Libra is associated with art and beauty. How long have you been writing?
“I’ve been writing for as far back as I can remember. I have notebooks and notebooks of pages just filled with stuff and thoughts and ideas and sometimes just words. I’ve been writing my whole life.”
Maybe she's born with it! Do you have a form of writing that you prefer?
“Poetry has always been my thing; it was always my outlet and the easiest way to express myself and my feelings through. Recently, I have been getting into writing short stories a little bit, so we’ll see where that goes.”
Can you tell us about the very exciting thing that happened recently?
“I had my first show! I just self-published a book of poetry, a real labor of love. It was incredible and in the show I also had 8 photographs that correlated with the writing that I had done. And I did my first reading from the book. That was a surreal experience. It was amazing. I’m super excited – it’s been a really great past few days.”
What an accomplishment! Can you tell us a bit about the themes you wanted to explore?
“Yeah, honestly this body of work really stemmed from… Okay. I started writing a few of the poems that were in the book and one thing led to another, and I felt like it was exploring my womanhood and also exploring this nostalgia that I had throughout my entire life. But void of sentimentality, it wasn’t this super emotional connection, more of a profound and insightful connection that I had with a lot of these things throughout my life – places that I’ve been, the place that I grew up, my family. So it touched upon all of those subjects. The photographs were a reflection of the writing and vice versa so it was very special to me to be able to put this work out there. It’s been a long time coming since I felt ready to share my writing with the world. So it was cool.”
That's a huge step; something you should be very proud of. Where you are from?
“I’m from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. So, here. Close by.”
You’re a very empowered woman. What traits do you really love in yourself? What do you bring to your writing?
“I love that… about myself… okay… Should be an easier question than it really is, you know. I really love that I am a romantic and I think that it’s nice to romanticize certain good aspects, just pulling the good out of sometimes a lot of bad. Being able to hone in on those things and see the silver lining, is something that I feel pretty proud that I’m capable to do. I also think that I have a pretty good sense of humor. I try not to take myself too seriously and I try not to be so critical. I feel that in recent past I’ve become an incredibly positive person and that is the only reason that I was able to allow things like what just happened on Friday to happen. Just knowing that I’m able to create change that I want to come from within and help others, so that feels really good.”
A typical pitfall of Libra in its negative mode can be indecisiveness. Can you touch on a weakness associated with your Libra personality?
“Indecision is my biggest weakness and not always on a huge, broad spectrum, but I’ve struggled for my whole life trying to find balance; that, I think, is a Libra thing. Even with the smallest things, like ‘what do I want to eat?’ I’ll make everybody give me their opinion on what they want to eat as if it’s, somehow, going to make me hungry for the same things.”
Weird birthday memory? Weird absurd NY memory? Something from growing up?
“I feel like most of my life is one absurd memory after another. I kind of feel like that’s my answer.”
Favorite geometric shape?
“Okay, just because the name rhombus is so incredible. I don’t know if it’s my favorite geometric shape, but it’s definitely my favorite geometric shape word, so that works. A star. Because this necklace that my mother made for me and my sister is in the shape of a star. She took all of her gold to make us two necklaces. I always have a piece of her, so that’s why.”
Thanks for letting us tune into the rhythm of your life, Alexandra! Hope to read more of your work soon. You look stunning in the Libra Sweater-T and Libra Céleste Bag. That blush color suits you perfectly!
