Petra Eiko uses art, public projects and poetry to increase more tolerance among people around the world.  Her artwork has been exhibited in the United States, Germany and Korea.  In 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, share positive ideas and widen the human circle throught  interactive art.

In 2010, Eiko took the-green-heart successfully a step further by creating the public art project: what is in your heart? – the world is listening.  The project was launched after a trip to Dubai where eiko spoke with a lady about the importance of learning from and understanding other people in order to have a better chance toward peace.  Eiko was asked repeatedly about the western definition of love and what we consider most meaningful. Since all things begin in our hearts, Eiko transformed the question: “what is in your heart?” into an interactive art installation that shows what truly moves us and how we all share common dreams and challenges.  For this ongoing project Eiko created a large-scale art piece that has been displayed in several locations throughout California. With the exhibit viewers are invited to contemplate on life and love and anonymously share their thoughts, wishes and hopes by expressing them on paper posting them on her art piece. All posts are collected and shown on our web page, facebook and travel with Eiko to further installations.  The intention of this project is to create a monumental art piece of thoughts, ideas and dreams with our communities for the world to see. The project unites people with one question and serves as a visual documentation of the matters of our hearts.

In 2011, Eiko collaborated with Los Angeles Education Partnership to bring the-green-heart into Los Angeles High Schools. For the past three years, the-green-heart has had fifteen installations in Los Angeles Schools. the-green-heart was redesigned and scaled down and the students were provided with all the necessary materials so they could experience how to run an interactive art installation and what it takes to promote and execute a project like this. The response from the students was amazing. What started out with single sheets of paper ended in classrooms and hallways covered from floor to ceiling with meaningful posts and artwork. The students enjoyed the-green-heart as a safe space to express themselves anonymously. Reading the experiences and feelings of fellow classmates opened new lines of communication and understanding.

Curated by 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.

In 2013, the Duarte Kiwanis Club hosted the-green-heart at Duarte's Mount Olive High School. In 2014, the Duarte Kiwanis Club is hosting the-green-heart at Duarte High School. For more information please go under the-green-heart in schools.

the-green-heart project continues to travel to galleries, museums, music centers, performing art centers and city events. For information about hosting the-green-heart please contact us.

The project is scheduled to travel to Europe in 2014.