Anna Wilkins - "Found Hearts"

Creative Connections Gift Shop & Gallery
February 8 - March 29, 2025
Opening Reception Saturday February 8, 1-3PM
56 Main Street, Ashburnham MA

The magic of found hearts.
I don't seek found hearts; I see them. I believe that the universe is held together with a force so powerful science has yet to measure or quantify it. I believe humans experience this force as LOVE.
The heart shape we recognize today and used to signify LOVE has a murky origin, but it is commonly credited to thirteenth-century medieval Europe. There is no question that this simple geometric shape now represents LOVE, a multifaceted and complicated emotion, in diverse cultures around the world.
I'm fascinated with our human propensity to seek meaning in symbols. This universal emotion of LOVE is described and defined in every artform. Through poems, song, paintings, iconography, novels, dance, opera, religious ritual, film, rap, even serious scientific study-- LOVE draws our attention. This shape, the heart shape, is found in nature randomly—but it is more powerful than any other symbol that can be found in nature. While there are other natural shapes that hold symbolic meaning to many-- the spiral, the circle, the star, the cross, the crescent-- none of these holds such a universal meaning as the heart shape.
When I stumble across a found heart, I use it as a trigger or reminder to stop and appreciate the mysterious force that connects us all to each other, to every single thing, big and small, in our world, in our galaxy and beyond. Documenting and sharing found hearts is a meditation for me.
I want my photographs to remind the viewer that love can be found everywhere. I hope you enjoy these found heart examples and that you start to see, reflect on, and share the found hearts that reveal themselves to you.
From my found heart to yours,

Anna H. Wilkins