SHEILA MARKHAM

Sheila Katharine Markham was born in Southampton, UK, in 1945.
However, when a mere 18 months old the family moved first to South Africa, then to Tanzania, where she went to school, then to Seychelles. In 1963 Markham returned to the UK to study at Bath Academy of Art, in Corsham, Wiltshire, graduating in 1967. After college the artist spent 2 years painting in Seychelles, then moved to South Africa where she worked as a graphic designer. Sheila Markham returned to Seychelles in 1987, settling on the island of Praslin, and for 7 years worked at the local government primary school as an art teacher, while continuing to paint.

During these years she exhibited work in various group exhibitions in Mauritius and Reunion, as well as in Seychelles. Markham had solo exhibitions in Seychelles in 1999, 2007 and 2019.  Mostly figurative initially, Markham has developed a unique style of lyrical realism, which merges elements of abstraction with suggested and stated visual narratives from real life. Her paintings are enthusiastically collected within and outside Seychelles.

She continues to paint in her studio in Baie Ste Anne, using imagery abstracted mostly from her immediate surroundings, which may not long survive human progress. The artist says; “I consider myself privileged to be old and to have lived in my time.”