For centuries, the heart has been revered across cultures as the body’s soul and a center for life and love. For example, in Egyptian mythology, the heart was weighed in the afterlife as a measure of morality. The image of the heart also made its way into theology, often bathed in ethereal light to represent love and sacrifice. In this piece, the background has been stitched together from photographs of sunsets. The combination of the heart and sky reference the belief of the heart’s divinity.

The original image is a heart model that was made by 3D printing a non-drying hydrogel, a gelatin-like material. The prototype, measuring approximately 3.5x2.5x2.5 cm, was created to check the integrity of chambers in the heart. Eventually, a larger model will be printed and used as a tool to help surgeons practice their technique before they operate on patients.