Embroidered Hearts

The domestic role of women rarely featured in history books, with the diligent and silent work undertaken throughout the ages by women of all race and nationality, often forgotten.

Artist Ema Shin wanted to create something to address that, and so her series of exquisitely sculpted and embroidered hearts was born.

Having grown up in a traditional Korean family, Ema saw that the treasured family book listing 32 generations of her family only contained the names of male descendants. So, she started to create these tiny hearts to celebrate the unnamed women from her own and others’ families, representing not only their emotions, but acting as amulets for their protection.

Each heart is carefully constructed out of paper mache and is then stitched and embellished so that no two are alike. They are lovingly dedicated to women who have gone unrecognised in the past and whose names have now been lost.

To see more of Ema’s work, you can follow her on Instagram, or you can read more about this project HERE.