Dev Heyrana | Artist| 2027 Osher Fellow, California Academy of Sciences & Inaugural Artist in Residence, ABS-CBN Foundation International - 2027

My practice is rooted in connection and community. Art is what brings them together.

Words were often hard to express, and art became my refuge at a young age. It has been my comfort, my voice, my healing, and my joy. I paint in my studio and live in the Bay Area with my family. Watching my two girls grow and find their own voices, celebrating who they are, has become a strength in my work.

Inspired by my roots, the people who walk beside me, and the ones I'm raising.

In recent years, that has pulled me toward the ocean. As an environmental artist, much of my focus has been the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines, the most biodiverse marine habitat on Earth, and the community in Lobo, Batangas who care for these waters.

I am a 2027 Osher Fellow and Community Artist at the California Academy of Sciences, where my work centers on the Passage and the Philippine coral reefs. I am also the inaugural Artist in Residence at ABS-CBN Foundation International, which first sent me to the Passage in early 2026 and brings me back this fall. Across all of it, my instinct is the same: start with the kids. Art and children are the languages I know best, and they are how a message survives past one generation.

This year, I opened Rooted and Rising, a youth group show for artists eighteen and under. Twenty-five of their pieces were exhibited with Oakland Roots in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month in May, and at Ciel Creative Space in June. The response has been tremendous, and I believe this is only the beginning. So much of what I have, I worked years for. I want to hold that door open for young artists.