Inspired by the work of Tina M. Campt and Christina Sharpe, Kimberly’s practice centers on a singular ontological contemplation: How can we render seeable the frequencies of Blackness while maintaining the opacity essential to its continued survival?

Recognizing the role of images and symbols in the construction of language and meaning, Kimberly’s work seeks to “steal/trap/encapsulate the semiotic passage from concept to indexical form.” In her series As Symbol & Concept, she explores the limitations and possibilities of an achromatic palette composed of black pigments, rendering iridescent semblances of ephemera gifted to her in 2020. Through this process, subtle variations in opacity, texture, and specular reflection amplify the spatial conditions surrounding the work, destabilizing the notion of a singular perspective by insisting on a continual reorientation of the viewer-object relationship—revealing the image as a site of temporal unfolding.

Currently, her practice seeks to further the ideas broached in the As Symbol & Concept series, experimenting with chromatic black pigments and their optical capacity to evoke deeper interior contemplations. Echoing thinkers like Kevin Young and Stuart Hall, who describe race and its politics as ‘liquid’ and ‘floating’, Kimberly’s shifting subjectivity conjures a range of affects. From weighted to weightless, sublime to precarious, her recent work aims to conjure a space where meaning is precipitated, but incomplete, often depicting a figure and/or object entangled within an ambiguous, gestural field of color. 


Kimberly R. Heard is a research-based visual artist examining, the sites that structure the signifying field and, ultimately, shape the human experience. Her recent exhibitions include Gallery QI, Bread & Salt Gallery, and SDAI in Southern California. Kimberly’s hometowns include San Diego, CA, and various regions within the state of Alabama. She enjoys home-cooked meals, zines, comics, and spending time at home with her family and houseplants.

Kimberly is pursuing her MFA in Painting at the Yale School of Art in New Haven, CT, with an expectancy of completion in 2026. 

Email:
khrdstudio@gmail.com