Beowulf Sheehan & Vaune Trachtman
October 17, Saturday, 4 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free
LOCATION:
In person at BMAC (10 Vernon Street, Brattleboro VT 05301)ACCESSIBILITY QUESTIONS?
Email office@brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124 x101Photos and videos may be taken during this event for use in BMAC promotional materials.
Master photographers Beowulf Sheehan and Vaune Trachtman discuss the unique challenges of translating their work and story into book form. Sheehan’s second book, The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting with Cormac McCarthy, recounts in pictures and words his day spent photographing the iconic writer—an homage to McCarthy’s art, and a reflection on how the experience helped Sheehan better see and love his own father. Trachtman’s Now is Always melds archival negatives, handwriting, and contemporary photography into 45 photogravures reproduced for the first time in book form. It also includes an essay by the artist about her background, influences, and process. Join Sheehan and Trachtman for a conversation that takes a deep dive into the remarkable images that tell unforgettable stories. This event will be moderated by Luke Strosnider.
Beowulf Sheehan is a photographer working in the arts and humanities. Published in the likes of Elle, The New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, Sheehan’s photographs are in the permanent collections of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Museum of Chinese in America, and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting with Cormac McCarthy is his second book. Beowulf Sheehan is the proud son of an immigrant and translator, grandson of a poet and photographer, and cousin, first cousin once removed, and great-great-nephew of authors.
Vaune Trachtman’s book Now is Always, with a foreword by Major Jackson, won Trifolio’s Special Prize and was shortlisted for the 2026 Les Rencontres d’Arles Author Book Award. Vaune has twice been named to Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 50, was shortlisted for the international Hariban Award, and received the Olcott Family Award in The Print Center’s international ANNUAL Competition. Her Now is Always series of gravures was recognized as a Top Portfolio by Rfotofolio and an Outstanding Work by the Denis Roussel Awards. She has upcoming solo exhibitions at the Philadelphia Athenaeum, Texas Tech, and the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts.
Presented in partnership with
