Constance McMorrow
she/her
Heart to Heart
'Heart to Heart' is based on my experience of having a heart transplant over ten years ago. The work centres on the surgery and the unsolicited comments received in the preceding years surrounding such an operation. These comments varied from “Has your personality changed?” to “Do you have a pig’s heart?”
My project explores how the heart, once viewed as a moral compass, is now regarded primarily as a blood-pumping organ. However, for transplant recipients, it seems that the heart is somehow still perceived as the emotional epicentre of a person, rather than just another organ of the body.
The project deconstructs this perception of the heart as an emotional organ. The work juxtaposes Catholic imagery, such as the Sacred Heart of Jesus to medical images of angiograms, comparing the emotional with the logical. This progression is also reflected in the quality of materials used in my work, transitioning from plastic and to silver.
Research