Heather Haynes
BIO
Heather Haynes began her artist career in 1995 after studying Visual Arts at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. For 10 years she self-represented and worked intently to develop her practice. In 2005, she entered the gallery circuit and began to show work in galleries and exhibits throughout North America.
A fierce vexation in gender inequality took Haynes to one of the world’s most despairing places, The Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2011. There, she witnessed the impact of unspeakable cruelty and systemic injustices at every turn. She vowed to help in whatever way she could. A chance meeting with a Congolese gentleman who was caring for orphan children altered the trajectory of Haynes’ artwork, and life. It was those children who became the inspiration for her work for the next 11 years. Through a series of touring exhibitions, her work has raised awareness and funds in the fight to eradicate poverty through education and healthcare, in communities in and around Goma, DRC.
In 2018, as a natural extension of her fundraising efforts and humanitarian themed artwork, Haynes formed a non-profit organization to add legitimacy to her endeavour. The Art of Courage is a platform for storytelling through art to create awareness, educate, advocate, and raise funds to change lives. In 2020, Haynes was honoured to have her Wall of Courage anchor the Human Element of Emergency on Planet Earth, a poignant exhibition at the UTA Artist Space in Los Angeles, curated by The United Talent Agency’s Director of Fine Art, Arthur Lewis. Then, in 2022 she was the subject of a short film that shares Heather’s ongoing connection to The Democratic Republic of Congo through the creation and unveiling of a triumphant 15-foot mixed media canvas entitled, "The Common Thread". Though Haynes continues to diversify her work, explore, expand and follow inspiration, one constant remains; her belief that the most certain way for our world to recover environmentally, economically and socially, is to support, empower, and educate young girls through opportunity and equity.
Artist Statement
Ascension
All art, individuals and experiences are interpreted through our unique human lens. Our inner call to unravel the mysteries of life propels us through a physical life of mystery, love, suffering, joy and all the other emotions the we experience in this human form. The Ascension piece is a calling card to the viewer; an activation of a memory perhaps hidden deep in spaces untouched and misunderstood. The purity of life, the essence of no time and space, the birth of everything and nothing at the same time. The sacred geometry of zero, the circle, the portal of light that possibly gives us hints through our formed filters into where we might find glimpses of the mysteries of this human experience.
Ascension is feminine in nature and history. The portal to life is bathed in a lineage of birthing. An ancient descending passage that leads back to the first light…. by following the history of birth for each living individual on earth at this moment, and you will find yourself in the middle of the magnificent portal of white light. ONE
