About
Photo: Clyde Semmoh >
Irish born, Indian raised, Brooklyn & Mexico City based, Sheena Matheiken is an artist, designer & filmmaker working across the broad realms of independent cinema, interdisciplinary design, ceramic art, and community practice.
Presently, Sheena co-runs ¡Bricolagista!, a subterranean filmmaking collective founded by her partner-in-crime, Maximón Monihan. Their debut feature film, La Voz De Los Silenciados (2014), is a modern day silent film, based on true events, about a deaf immigrant girl in New York City. The film played to great acclaim in the international film festival circuit. Their second feature, Sea to Shining Sea (2017) is a satirical roadtrip across America, a counter-narrative to the current disheveled state of all things red, white, and blue. She is currently working on her feature-length directorial debut titled Mugri.
Sheena is also principal and partner at O-L-A, aka Off Late Afternoons, a transdisciplinary collective of designers, design strategists and web developers. Based in Amsterdam, Brooklyn, Gdańsk, Kraków, Bangkok and Mexico City, O-L-A works across complementary disciplines from not-so-complementary timezones, supporting critical projects led by progressive organizations.
Previously, Sheena spent over a decade at creative agencies and technology startups working within the emerging digital ecosystem. Her past roles include: Design Lead at the Guild of Future Architects, a community working towards enlightened cultural, social, economic, and political change; Head of Experience Design at New Lab, an interdisciplinary space designed to support entrepreneurs working in robotics, artificial intelligence, and connected devices; Creative Director at The Mill, the reputed trans-Atlantic post-production house; Creative Director at Fake Love, a New York Times owned experiential design studio, to name a few.
In 2009, Sheena conceived and performed a 365-day style challenge titled the Uniform Project – a response to the mass trends of disposible fashion, whereby she challenged herself to wear and reinvent the same black dress for an entire year, using vintage and recycled accessories. Designed to be an online fundraiser for children’s education in India, the daily blog went viral, acquired a die-hard global following and millions of views, raising over $100k for the cause. Following its success, she was honored as one of Elle Magazine’s Women of the Year.
Co-Producer, From the Shadows, India . 2022
Co-Producer, Beba, USA . 2022
Design Lead, Guild of Future Architects, New York . 2022
Writer, Director, Chamaca, Mexico/USA . 2021
Producer & Editor, Sea to Shining Sea, USA . 2017
Director of Digital Experience, New Lab, New York . 2014
Fellow at New Inc, New Museum, New York . 2014
Board of Directors, Boulder Digital Works, Colorado . 2012
Creative Director, The Mill, New York . 2012
Creator, The Uniform Project, New York . 2009
Assoc. Creative Director, Digitas, New York . 2009
Freelance Art Director/Interaction Designer, New York . 2006
Digital Design Faculty, Parsons School of Design, New York . 2002
Filmmaker, Urbicide, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina . 2001
Freelance Art Director, Rubecon, Chennai, India . 1998
Guest Lecture, Wharton, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia . 2014
Social Entrepreneurship Summit, Harvard University, MA . 2012
Trailblazer Talk, Body & Soul festival, Ireland . 2012
Executive Workshops, Boulder Digital Works, CO . 2011
GoogleTalk, Google NY 2011
TEDxDubai talk, Dubai . 2010
Sustainable Consumption Panel, World Policy Institute, NY . 2010
Guest Lecture, Fashion Institute of Technology , NY . 2010
Keynote, Qi Global conference, Singapore . 2010
Singapore Management University Lecture, Singapore . 2010
PeopleTree Fashion Forum, Tokyo . 2010
WorldBank Headquarters Lecture, Washington DC . 2010
Sustainability Panel, Center for Architecture, NY . 2010
Design for Life Panel, London Design Festival, London . 2009
Best Feature Film, Moments IFF, Spain . 2018
Programmers Choice Award, Bushwick Film Festival . 2018
Best Director (Maximón Monihan), St. Petersburg Beginning IFF . 2014
Best Sound Design (Michael Coffman), St. Petersburg Beginning IFF . 2014
Young Critics Jury Award, Mumbai International Film Festival . 2013
Communication Arts Interactive Annual . 2012
FWA pick . 2011
Uniform Project
Woman of the Year, Elle Magazine Canada . 2009
Top 100 most innovative projects, The Feast NY . 2009
Nominee, Cooper Hewitt People’s Design Award . 2009
US Open iPhone App
Forbes, Best branded Apps of 2009
One Show, Interactive Merit . 2010
Webby Honoree, 14th Annual Webby Awards . 2010
Converse.com
Communication Arts, Web Pick . 2009
FWA Favorite Websites Award . 2009
Design Licks Site of Day . 2009
MFA, Design & Technology, Parsons School of Design, NY
Certificate in Creative writing, The New School, NY
BFA, Fine Arts, Stella Maris College, Chennai, India