THE UNKNOWN HEROINE is a limited edition artists' book made by conceptual artist Sherry Wiggins in collaboration with photographer Luís Filipe Branco. The book is comprised of text and images that are based on Wiggins's interaction with French photographer and writer Claude Cahun's essay "THE ESSENTIAL WIFE or the the Unknown Princess." The book includes this essay by Claude Cahun as well as an essay by curator and writer Cydney Payton.

This new edition of a classic study contains a specially written preface evaluating contemporary feminist criticism.

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She was an unknown, a newborn baby, discarded in a dumpster on a bed of decaying garbage and lifeless rodents to die, trucked away, and forgotten. Yet, she survived. Through her childhood, teenage, and adult years, she wandered and hid, avoiding violent, unknown men driven to finish what they originally failed to do. What unknown secret drew these men to her? How did the ordinary an unopened letter, a homeless couple, tennis, swimming, horses, a corrupt friend, and a deck of cards change the unknown to the known, the hunted to ...? The path this story takes is not straight; it bends with mystery, intrigue, violence, the unexpected, and more than a few surprises.

Meera is a young Nepali girl with dreams bigger than her imagination. She lives with her father, sisters, and an abusive stepmother. She has a thirst for knowledge, but she is deprived of education. Her life suddenly changes when she turns eighteen. Unable to pay the debt, her father give her away to their wicked relative. And thus she cannot even bid her last good-bye to her beloved friend Arpana. Her journey starts first as a mistress, a slave girl, then a nave sex worker. She drowns in the whirlpool of gruesome situations, but her hope keeps her alive for a better tomorrow. It is a story about a girl who yet fallen into the darkest pit finds her own way to the light. The changes in her belief system and the precious gift that she receives from life in the form of a lovely daughter. She is the epitome of fearlessness and is a stoic. Despite going through so much hardships, she chooses to smile at her life in support of her chosen relatives.