Ancestry, 2019

In Ancestry, artist Devlin Shea turns her attention to the subtle inheritances embedded within everyday encounters. The work continues her exploration of observed vignettes, focusing on moments where proximity carries emotional residue.

As in her painting practice, Shea compresses the composition through close cropping, drawing the viewer into an intimate psychological space. The figures appear suspended in relation to one another — their gestures partial, their expressions withheld. The tension lies not in overt action, but in what remains unsaid.

Layering plays a central role in the construction of the image. Fragments accumulate and overlap, suggesting memory as something built rather than fixed. In Ancestry, this accumulation feels particularly resonant: histories—personal or generational—seem to press subtly against the present moment.

In risograph printing, each colour is printed as a separate pass through a risograph machine — a stencil-based duplicator that presses organic soy inks into the paper. Risograph inks are naturally vibrant — they are renowned for their vivid colours and evident textures. The inks are transparent so layers build to create more colours. Slight shifts in registration and a soft grain make every impression subtly unique.

Ancestry is printed on Olin natural white 170gsm, an uncoated, FSC-certified stock whose gentle warmth lets the colours glow. The edition is strictly limited to 100 and will never be reprinted. All prints were produced at the London Centre for Book Arts.