Making art at the “end of the world”, Heather Heffernan, also known as Apocalypsekid, a
neurodivergent, queer, native to San Diego, is an emerging abstract and mixed media artist focusing on striking composition, cerebral impact, and creative use of found materials. Drawing from their unique perspective influenced by first hand experience with poverty, homelessness, loss, drug abuse, the foster ca
re system, trauma, and mental health hurdles, Heather embodies how creation can be used in the healing process and to invoke conversation of the balance of light and darkness within ourselves and the world. Using a spontaneous and interpretive technique, Heather allows emotion to lead brushstrokes, a process integral to personal healing and pieces that allow deepness to emerge from the canvas.
“Allowing myself to communicate through art continuously saves my life.”
Bearing witness and being personally impacted by extreme social and environmental imbalance make for a dramatic, at times subversive interpretation that begs conversation
about being attuned to and challenging our relationship with the darkness within us, elevating our understanding of own minds and how we can be at peace knowing the end of our ropes are truly the beginnings of another and the “end of the world” is the beginning of the world we are actively creating. "As an agender, queer, and neurodivergent artist born and raised in San Diego, I use art as therapy and to engage with my community. Frequently, I use reclaimed materials and focus on abstract acrylic and mixed media pieces, allowing my personal experience and a global perspective to influence my work. As a youth I attended public art focused schools which allowed me to experiment with various mediums and techniques, along the way finding that creative expression was saving my life and witnessing the incredible impact the arts had in the San Diego community. At the age of 12, when funding for the arts in public schools were likely to be voted against, I spoke as the only youth in front of the Board of Education to save that funding, stressing its importance to the development of our children and myself which resulted in the arts being saved. Currently, I host a weekly art space for creative expression and collective healing with other members of my community. Someday I would like to open a space for the broader San Diego community that allows people the tools for healing, creative expression, and connection, which is desperately needed in this age of social, economic, and environmental instability. "For the wild creatures whose habitat is being destroyed by a rapacious energy economy, and for the children whose breathing is labored due to pollution from fossil fuels. May a future energy economy that mirrors nature’s elegance arrive soon enough to relieve their suffering.”
-ENERGY, Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth"
