AVA HEMINGWAY: escape artist

Coming soon: A Model's betrayal

Ava Hemingway was a secret bombshell on Madison Avenue for two years. She was talked about in hushed tones in the agents offices who badgered Steve McQueen or Stella McCartney for talent favors. But no agent could land her, and Ava never seemed to want to work.

But she took thousands of photographs before abruptly leaving Manhattan for Mombasa. Her father had once boasted: "I killed 17 elephants in one month, so help me god." Her grandfather was the writer, a hunter and womanizer renowned for impotent boasting. Why would she go to Africa? Ava wrote me a little note before she split: "I'm not headed to the Serengeti for revenge or anything as silly as that. I've got an apology I need to deliver in the name of the people who raised me and who I have never respected: so you could say by going to Kenya to announce some guilt I am actually betraying my famous family. That's fine. When you write my story, Sean, make sure to say that I admitted I was a traitor."

Three shoots with Ava Hemingway will be featured here by November 2016.