Author: Sephora Pietrzak

I have started building my prototype human heart by creating a wire skeleton of the heart. As it was my first time using crafting wire, I didn’t know which thickness I should choose. It can’t be too thin cause then my sculpture might collapse under all the weight, whereas if it’s too thick it might not be that flexible and harder to bend into the shape of a heart, which doesn’t have a regular shape, and the same size throughout whole length. What’s more, it was quite a Russian roulette as I was ordering wire online and was judging the thickness based on its photos which can be sometimes misleading. In the end, I went for Silver Aluminium wire 2 mm thick and 11.5 m long.

The next step was to cover the skeleton with red fabric. It had to be quite stretchy and light as I didn’t want it to lose its shape by falling inside the framework as the inside was empty space. I was considering stuffing it with material or fluff from the pillow but I was worried it might be too heavy for the leg, made of wire, on which the heart is suspended. Next, I covered a skeleton with a couple of smaller pieces of the material and stitched it to its frame. I didn’t cover the heart with one big piece as the heart could lose its shape plus I don’t know even how I could do it as the shape of a heart is quite complex.

Last but not least the most tiresome part, is covering the model with small pieces of red wool. It was the longest part as I had to stitch every piece of wool separately and there were quite loads of them. In the beginning, I intended to glue them to the material using super glue, but it left an unpleasant mark on the material and I wasn’t happy with it so I chose red thread. What’s more, I had to be very careful to not tear pieces apart from the material and to not damage the material itself as it’s very light. This part was the hardest as Wool didn’t want to cooperate with me and it was going in the wrong direction or it was rolling upwards. I am the most dissatisfied with this part as it looks the most against my idea compared to the previous 2 stages. But I guess it’s the difference between designing something in 2D and building it in 3D.

Overall, with small details, I am happy with my results. I am not that harsh on my work as I know it’s only a prototype and it’s supposed to give a hint to an audience about my work and not be a perfect final result.

Main inspiration for my heart character was Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.

I didn’t want my heart to be boring. On top of the deep meaning, I wanted it to be fun and more easily get to a wider audience. Therefore, an idea to create a heart character. Then was the question, what would be my inspiration for creating one? It took me a while but then I thought of Cookie Monster. At first glance, he is very easy-going and single-minded but deep down can have deep thoughts with greater meaning such as a healthy lifestyle, eating unprocessed food, and living a better, safer life. It reminded me a little of our hearts. A lot of people take it for granted, have low physical activity and bad eating habits, and assume their heart will work perfectly till death. We don’t need to have any heart problems unless it’s because of genetics, but we have to put work on it like for anything else. We have to introduce better habits in our daily lives, less stress, more physical activity, and healthy food. Of course, all of it is easier said than done but we can try our best. MOMO is the heart that was affected by a bad lifestyle, it starts to fall apart which you can hear based on the sound it produces. MOMO is not perfect, but can be. And that’s my meaning behind the project.

MOMO IS YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND

I present to you MOMO, a character I have created for my portfolio project about the human heart. MOMO is your new heart friend, which is not perfect. It goes through phases. We create a sound that changes through happiness, sadness, and excitement. We create sound, we don’t hear but it speaks for our health. Sometimes louder than words. Momo is more than just a muscle. It is not in charge of our feelings, emotions, pain, thoughts, speech, or sight. However, its work enables the work of everything else. Work of our brain, organs, muscles, and every single body cell. Slight changes in tempo and power of heartbeats can derange metabolism. Decreased blood circulation leads to cerebral ischemia, which leads to cerebral hypoxia, and lastly, death of our brain which is equal to clinical death. Each of these consequences is counted as part of civilization diseases that have existed as a result of the last two centuries because of changes in diet, stressful workplace, low physical activity, as well as standing or sedentary lifestyle. The world is changing, and living comfort is changing but our heart is not.

Above I have displayed 4 stills from VR model of human heart, which will be my inspiration for my heart 3D model. The heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood around the body by circulating it through the circulatory/vascular system. It is found in the middle mediastinum, wrapped in a two-layered serous sac called the pericardium. The heart is shaped as a quadrangular pyramid, and orientated as if the pyramid has fallen onto one of its sides so that its base faces the posterior thoracic wall, and its apex is pointed toward the anterior thoracic wall. The great vessels that originate from the heart, radiate their branches to the head and neck, the thorax and abdomen and the upper and lower limbs. The left and right sides of the heart are separated by the interatrial and interventricular septa which are continuous with each other. Furthermore, the atria are separated from the ventricles by the atrioventricular septa. Blood flows from the atria into the ventricles through the atrioventricular orifices (right and left)–openings in the atrioventricular septa. These openings are periodically shut and open by the heart valves, depending on the phase of the heart cycle.

COLOUR PALETTE is mostly different shades of red, pinkish-red and white

When you experience depression, anxiety or stress your heart rate and blood pressure rise, there’s reduced blood flow to the heart and your body produces higher levels of cortisol, stress hormone. Therefore, less blood transported to the heart, means different sound heart makes. 

When doing my research on Heart auscultation and percussion I started wondering how and if depression is connected to heart diseases. A percentage of people with no history of depression become depressed after a heart attack or after developing heart failure. And people with depression but no previously detected heart disease, seem to develop heart disease at a higher rate than the general population. A heart attack can impact much more than a person’s heart. It can affect many other aspects of a person’s life, including:

• Attitude and mood
• Sense of certainty about the future
• Confidence about one’s ability to fulfill the roles of a productive employee, mother, father, daughter, or son
• Feelings of guilt about previous habits that might have increased the person’s heart attack risk
• Embarrassment and self-doubt over diminished physical capabilities

“What we can say with certainty is that depression and heart disease often occur together,” says Dr. Roy Ziegelstein, vice dean for education at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine . “About one in five who have a heart attack are found to have depression soon after the heart attack. And it’s at least as prevalent in people who suffer heart failure.” People with depression or who are recovering from a heart attack have a lower chance of recovery and a higher risk of death than people without depression. The reasons range from how the individual behaves to how the body reacts:

• In depressed heart attack patients, decreased motivation to follow healthy daily routines can result in skipping important heart medications, avoiding exercise and proper diet, and continuing or intensifying smoking and drinking habits.
• Individuals with depression can also experience changes in their nervous system and hormonal balance, which can make it more likely for a heart rhythm disturbance (called an “arrhythmia”) to occur. The combination of depression and a damaged heart (from a heart attack), seems to make people particularly susceptible to potentially fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.
• People with depression may have uncommonly sticky platelets, the tiny cells that cause blood to clot. In patients with heart disease, this can accelerate atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and increase the chance of heart attack. Some studies show that treating depression make platelets less sticky again.

Many pathologic cardiac conditions can be diagnosed by auscultation of the heart sounds. Note that heart sounds are discrete, short audible events from a specific cause — different from a heart murmur. A murmur is due to turbulence of blood flow and can, at times, encompass all of systole or diastole. The main normal heart sounds are the S1 and the S2 heart sound. The S3 can be normal, at times, but may be pathologic. A S4 heart sound is almost always pathologic. Heart sounds can be described by their intensity, pitch, location, quality and timing in the cardiac cycle.

FIRST HEART SOUND(S1)- The first heart sound results from the closing of the mitral and tricuspid valves. The sound produced by the closure of the mitral valve is termed M1, and the sound produced by closure of the tricuspid valve is termed T1. Four factors affect the intensity of the first heart sound:

1. Chest wall thickness: The first factor is the thickness of the chest wall. Individuals with obesity will have a soft S1, whereas thinner people will have a more intense S1.
2. Length of PR interval: A short PR interval results in an accentuated S1, whereas a long PR interval results in a soft S1.
3. Valve leaflet mobility: Mild to moderate mitral stenosis results in a loud S1, whereas severe to critical mitral stenosis results in a soft S1.
4. Ventricular contraction rate: The faster the heart rate and the faster the rise in ventricular pressure, the louder the S1. 

SECOND HEART SOUND(S2)- The second heart sound is produced by the closure of the aortic and pulmonic valves. The sound produced by the closure of the aortic valve is termed A2, and the sound produced by the closure of the pulmonic valve is termed P2.

THIRD HEART SOUND(S3)- The third heart sound, also known as the “ventricular gallop,” occurs just after S2 when the mitral valve opens, allowing passive filling of the left ventricle. The S3 sound is actually produced by the large amount of blood striking a very compliant LV. A S3 heart sound is often a sign of systolic heart failure, however it may sometimes be a normal finding.

FOURTH HEART SOUND(S4)- The fourth heart sound, also known as the “atrial gallop,” occurs just before S1 when the atria contract to force blood into the LV. If the LV is noncompliant, and atrial contraction forces blood through the atrioventricular valves, a S4 is produced by the blood striking the LV. A S4 heart sound is often a sign of diastolic HF, and it is rarely a normal finding (unlike a S3).

I intend to create visual and audio pieces, demonstrating my thoughts and feelings during 4 years in London, UK. My memoir of time in the UK. I am going to present it in the form of a visual diary, using short video clips I have recorded at different locations and times, putting it together as one video with sound produced by me in the background. I am planning to display it on an old, retro TV from the 50s/60s or early 2000s to give a nostalgic effect to it. I am planning to rent one from the Television Prop Shop.

With black tulle, I want to create a theatrical scene with it hanging from the ceiling looking like black rain. I don’t have any specific tulle in mind, any would work. When it comes to my poem, I have decided to display it on small, square pages hanging from the ceiling with tulle. Lastly, my portrait will be hanging from the ceiling too. It is going to be created in collaboration with a painter from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. The painting is going to be inspired by “Girl with pearl earring” by Vermeer.

To build the heart model I will need material in different shades of red( I think instead of buying material, it is going to be more economical to buy red second-hand clothes). On top of that, I will need a needle and red thread to sew materials together with wire. The thread needs to be strong to support the entire structure and not tear apart in the process. 1 x standing loudspeaker. I think I will purchase a couple of different kinds and see how they work. I am thinking of thick thread for DIY bracelets, normal red thread, Racing Red Hand Tying Butchers String, or Leather Waxed Thread.

And several dozen of wire, I don’t know exactly how much I would need but it’s better to have too much and not enough. I am planning to buy 100m first, see physically how long it is, and make an assumption if it is enough or not. When it comes to wire, for me the most important is that It needs to be super extensible and resistant to breakage. Therefore I think the best will be jewelery wire, which naturally is used for bending and crafting.

This project title is ” Human Heart” and it is dedicated to the nature of human beings and the source of vital energy to exist, think, and feel. In this project, I want to disclose two parts of my heart, art and medical science. I am going to build a large 3D model of the human heart. The skeleton is going to be made out of wire and hooked on a standing loudspeaker, out of which the sound of a beating heart will be coming out to create the illusion of an enormous beating human heart. From the outside wire skeleton, I will cover it with various materials of different shades of red to imitate the structure of the heart. What’s more this particular piece is going to be my goodbye letter. I enjoyed my time in art school, and how much I have developed artistically and understood this side of me. However, I also understood that art is not what I want to perceive in life and I am going to switch to my first choice, which is the medical field. Therefore the inspiration for my project is the human heart.