Illusion does not free us from reality. Ironically employing the very medium she critiques, Heydt’s large and varied body of photographic work speaks to the disenchantment of the social psyche at the hands of the media apparatus and at the expense of the natural world. United by its unconventional exploration of semiology and its role in cementing corporal commodification, consumerism and constructed narratives of the past, her work splinters into several subversive series. From empty motel rooms to opencast mines, Heydt’s visions transcend her images’ site-specific locations — the impact of the photographs are shockingly universal, rendering the global local.
