// Bio
Heather Murphy is a Bay Area, California-born new media artist. She holds a MFA in Studio Art from California College of the Arts, and a BA in Studio Art (Crafts) from Azusa Pacific University. She had her first solo exhibition at Heritage Art Gallery in 2012, and has participated in dozens of group shows throughout the United States in the last 10 years. Her work has been shown in The Wrong New Digital Art Biennial, and at Minnesota Street Project, Southern Exposure, UC Berkeley's Worth Ryder Gallery, and Flux Factory, among others. By day, she works as a project-based-learning curriculum developer specializing in art & design projects for K-8th students. She currently resides in San Francisco.
// Statement
Education
I am a new media artist with a background in textiles, which might seem strange until you notice that we talk in “threads” on the “web.” As a member of the YouTube generation, I am also compulsively self-taught, a glutton for tutorials. My interest in technology and specifically the internet has derived in part from this lifelong addiction to free information. As the idyllic early promise of an open, democratic web has slowly shrunk, however, I’ve fell into a space between feeling jaded while still enjoying so much of what I experience online. And I think this is a feeling many people – especially Americans and those who have the privilege to live “postinternet” lives – can relate to.
Today’s dual online and IRL (in real life) existence has led to a new era of anxiety, where we experience much of life through our screens while simultaneously being driven by FOMO (fear of missing out) to leave our screens behind.
Using primarily video and performance, my work explores how technology, and specifically the internet, has changed the way we experience everyday life. The Trending Project, for example, focuses on how we experience the news and world events through the lens of internet trends, and Social Emergency Security Blankets investigates how we experience public spaces through our devices.
2008 - 2012
Azusa Pacific University, BFA
2013 - 2015
California College of the Arts, MFA
Exhibitions
Solo
2012
Everyday Apathy, Heritage Art Gallery
Group (Selected)
2016
The Generosity Pop-Up Center for Digital & Analog Color Treatment, Parking Lot Art Fair
2016
Conspiracy, Minnesota Street Project
2015
Call.io.pe Pavilion, The Wrong (again) New Digital Art Biennale
2015
Crank, Southern Exposure
2015
Introductions, Root Division
2015
(processing) Bay Area Artists and the Archive, Worth Ryder Gallery (UC Berkeley)
2015
Alone Together or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Socialized Isolation, The Wattis
2015
All-You-Can-Eat, Grant Hall Gallery (University of Nevada Las Vegas)
2015
STROBE Network, Flux Factory
2015
Technophilia, Embark Gallery
2014
A.I.R. ReFreshed, New York & National Artists Traveling Exhibition, ADORE & A.I.R. Gallery
2014
Survival Adaptations, Root Division & Adobe Books Backroom Gallery
Awards
2015
Toby Devan Lewis Award Finalist, San Francisco
2012
Outstanding Senior in Studio Art, Azusa Pacific University Dept. of Art & Design
Collections
Private collection of Mr. Li Qiongbo, Guangzhou, China
Published Texts
“From Sacred to Modern: The Community Roles of Exiled Tibetan Artists”, Gratia Eruditionis, 4 (1), 2012. 7–27.