My name is Esther, I am a multimedia artist, storyteller, and educator. My work focuses on the changing conditions of watery ecosystems and how environmental and economic pressures shape both these ecosystems and the lives—human as well as non-human—that are affected by them. I explore how different forms of pressure unfold by focusing on specific places, species, and materials. My projects often begin with close studies: a sponge diver’s body under economic and physical strain, an amphibian depending on a precise chemical environment to survive, the rapid adaptation of planktonic snails to ocean acidification, or the presence of invasive species in human-altered habitats. These specific stories open up broader reflections on adaptation, fragility, and the lived experience of ecological crisis.

My practice is research-based and combines archival inquiry with collaborations involving scientists, historians, biologists, and ecologists. I incorporate interviews and field research to ground my work in ecological and socio-political contexts. I work across film, sculpture (including ceramics, textile, copper, and marble), performance, and costume. These elements come together in installations that merge research, storytelling, and visual layering, examining how environmental shifts are experienced and how individual lives are shaped by larger ecological changes.

💌 esther-heyden@hotmail.com