Sara Heywood (b.1971) is a British multidisciplinary artist based in London, UK. Her practice focuses on site responsive interventions where natural and manmade environments and materials converge and impact one another. Intrinsic to the work is an urgent dialogue between humans, heritage and environmental land legacy and their impact on the planet for future generations. Utilising photography, drawing, installation and sculpture, alongside found and natural materials, Heywood addresses our present-day relationship to the world around us, the legacy and imprints we leave behind, and the physical and emotional repercussions of a planet in climate crisis.

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Projects often start with a period of in-depth research and development. This includes exploring locality, heritage & archives, social and personal narratives, ecologies and built environments before responding with the most appropriate materials and processes.​ Works often include socially engaged collaborations or participatory experiences.

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BIO

Heywood holds an MFA from the Edinburgh College of Art (1996). She has gone on to exhibit in the UK and abroad, undertaken several international artist residencies and commissions including most recently at PADA Studios, Lisbon, Portugal and Orford Ness, Suffolk, UK, and was recently short-listed for the 7th John Ruskin Prize 2025 for her work 'Camera Obscura – Hertford Union Canal' (2024).

 

Her commissioned projects include 'Mulberry Tree of Plenty' (Trellis 2) with UCL East, and 'Reflections on Home', Alton Estate, with Artscape Management and Redrow Homes. 

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Sara is also an experienced art educator, working with organisations including Barbican Centre, Bow Arts Trust, Camden Art Centre, Chisenhale Gallery (CAP), Cubitt Arts, The National Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, South London Gallery, University College London, and Whitechapel Gallery.