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Jessica Helfand|The Icarus Diaries

February 10, 2026

04: Shadow Box

Read the introduction to this series.

Shadow Box
24 x 24 inches
2026

Flare up like a flame, wrote Rilke,and make big shadows I can move in.

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Jessica Helfand|The Icarus Diaries

05: Waxing

I am finding Icarus references everywhere. He’s a symbol for so much: adventure and aspiration, peril and mishap, the embodiment of recklessness, the fragility of youth. I’m still stuck on the youth part.

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By Jessica Helfand

Jessica Helfand is an artist and writer based in New England. A former critic at Yale School of Art and one of the founding editors of Design Observer, she is the author of several books on visual culture including Self Reliance, Design: The Invention of Desire, and Face: A Visual Odyssey. jessicahelfand.com

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