Petra Eiko uses art, public projects and poetry to increase tolerance among people around the world. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally in the United States, Germany, Italy, Chile, Cuba and Korea. 2005 Eiko was awarded with the Honorary Citizenship of Busan, Korea for her achievements in poetry.
In 2009, Eiko designed the-green-heart to inspire and to widen global communication through her interactive art.
In 2010, Eiko took the-green-heart a step further by creating the public art project: what is in your heart?-the world is listening. The project was inspired by multiple trips to Dubai. She was faced repeatedly with the importance of learning and understanding others, which would ideally result in peace among all people.
Many times Eiko was asked about the western definition of love and what is meaningful to us. She transformed the question: what is in your heart? into a visual documentation and uses this as a part of her interactive art installation that demonstrates what moves people worldwide.
For this ongoing project Eiko has created a large-scale art piece that has been displayed in locations throughout California. Exhibition viewers are invited to consider their lives, loves and anonymously share wishes, ideas, dreams and challenges by expressing them on paper, which are then posted on her art piece.
In 2011, Eiko was invited to collaborate with Los Angeles Education Partnership to bring the-green-heart into Los Angeles High schools. Over the past six years, the-green-heart has had 26 installations in Los Angeles schools providing the students the experience of running an interactive art piece. The students found the-green-heart a safe space to express themselves anonymously - reading private thoughts and feelings of fellow classmates opened new lines of communications and understanding.
Curated by Petra Eiko, the heartfelt messages of the students' were displayed in a special exhibition at the Bridge Gallery in Los Angeles City Hall October-November, 2012.
the-green-heart project continues to travel to galleries, museums and cultural centers. For information about hosting the-green-heart please contact us.
