Putting Their Hearts into Art: Inaugural Exhibition and Awareness Event

Open weekdays 2 - 30 September at Kingshill House, Dursley, Gloucestershire, England, UK. Launch Event Saturday 7 September 13:00-17:00, free entry.

2-30 September 2024, launch 7 September: Currently, women are 1.5 times less likely to receive defibrillation than men and 1.5 times more likely to die. Currently the survival rate for (out of hospital) sudden cardiac arrest is just 10%. We want to change that.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK. August 15th, 2024 – Announcing Sudden Cardiac Art Exhibition, a revolutionary art exhibition to end the vast gender disparity in cardiac arrest survival. Artists from around the world have lifted their brushes, pens, and carving tools in solidarity to stop the needless deaths of women due to repressive societal standards that inhibit people who need to, as the exhibition organizers like to say, Flash The Boobs to Save A Life. 

A special Launch Event is being held 7 September 2024, 1pm - 5pm, at Kingshill House, and is open to the public. Artists will be on-site to discuss their pieces. Advocates will be on hand with defibrillator and CPR demonstrations. There will be a special training suitable for all ages and including music videos and dance. A highlight is a unique panel discussion including sudden cardiac arrest survivors, emergency and medical personnel, and advocacy organizations. 

[QUOTES] “Artists from around the world have lifted their brushes, pens, and carving tools in solidarity to stop the needless deaths of women due to repressive societal standards that inhibit people who need to, as the exhibition organizers like to say, Flash The Boobs to Save A Life. “-HeartCharged

“Working with HeartCharged from the first Zoom call to the snowball of getting 36 international artists to donate bespoke exhibition pieces, the whole experience has been exhilarating. Seeing it all come to life in such a beautiful exhibition space makes me immensely proud.”- Charlie Kirkham

The story behind the exhibition starts with Bethany and Hannah Keime, founders of HeartCharged, who live with the deadly heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They realized awareness before and quick actions during a sudden cardiac arrest from everyday citizens determines life or death. They went on a mission to train and inform people, children through adults, on using defibrillators and performing CPR. 

Women had significantly lower survival rates because, even when they could, people were choosing not to help women, basically because of their breasts. It seemed unconscionable women were consciously left to die. Currently, women are 1.5 times less likely to receive defibrillation than men and 1.5 times more likely to die. They vowed to change that inequity, as well as work to raise the overall survival rates. 

UK artist and heart patient, Charlie Kirkham, saw the HeartCharged campaign and she too wanted to raise survival rates, for women, children, and men, from the current 10% to the attainable 70%. She knew that through art people could see the beauty of saving another human and through awareness, they could learn how. So she got to work alongside artist colleagues, reaching out across the globe to bring together 80 artworks from 36 artists. Each artwork celebrates the lifegiving power we all have once we learn to honour women’s bodies by saving their lives.

ENDS