diana heise
artist statement
We are of this world is a series of ecologically concerned collages intended to act as a meditative experience from people to attune with the more-than-human world. These works are produced from the ephemeral interaction between sun, UV sensitive chemicals, unwanted materials such as discarded domestic items and weeds, botanical toners and recycled papers. These resulting works are meant to serve simultaneously as a memorial and an aesthetically engaging talisman, a visual reminder that we humans belong to, are entangled with and responsible to our ecologies.
ARTIST BIO
Diana Heise is a socially engaged research-based artist working at the intersections of performance, eco-feminism and experimental lens-based image practices, committed to aesthetic pursuits that cultivate awareness, resilience and attuned regeneration.
She is a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts, a Performance Art Fund Grant from the Franklin Furnace Inc. as well as a Presidential Fellowship at the American University in Cairo.
Her work has been exhibited in galleries and festivals internationally, including the Brooklyn Museum, Governor's Island, the Film Anthology Archives, Arte Laguna Prize at the Venice Arsannale, Oriel Myrddin Gallery in Wales, Cantor Art Center at Stanford University, and the Institut Français de Maurice, among others.
Her films have screened at the New York Underground Film Festival, Ethnografilm Paris Film Festival, High Falls Film Festival, Big Muddy Film Festival, the Visible Verse Festival and Black Maria Film Festival, among others. She has participated in residencies at the Kala Art Institute, Vermont Studio Center, the Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Open Wabi, ArteSumapaz and the Wassaic Project.
She has spoken about my work at venues such as the Parsons School of Art and Design, Stanford University and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Heise’s scholarly writing has been published in Ephemeral Coast from Vernon Press, Connecting Continents: Archaeology and History in the Indian Ocean from Ohio University Press and Global and Local Art Histories from Cambridge Scholar’s Press, among others.
After Heise’s Fulbright fellowship, she has served as a Fulbright alumni ambassador, represented the organization at national conferences including College Art Association and African Studies Conference and served on the jury for the Filmmaking student Fulbright grant. She holds a MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY and a BA in Art History from Vassar College.
Heise is a Full Professor at the Kansas City Art Institute. She lives and works in Kansas City, MO and North Hero, VT.