Open weekdays from 2nd to 30th September at Kingshill House, Dursley, Gloucestershire, England, UK. Launch Event on Saturday 7th September from 13:00 to 17:00, free entry.
From 2nd to 30th September 2024, with the official launch on 7th September: Currently, women are 1.5 times less likely to receive defibrillation than men and 1.5 times more likely to die. The survival rate for out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest is just 10%. We are determined to change that.
Announcing the Sudden Cardiac Art Exhibition, a groundbreaking event aimed at addressing the significant gender disparity in cardiac arrest survival rates. Artists from around the globe have united, using their creative talents to highlight the preventable deaths of women caused by societal norms that discourage life-saving interventions. The exhibition’s organisers advocate the message: “Flash The Boobs to Save A Life.”
A special Launch Event will take place on 7th September 2024, from 1pm to 5pm, at Kingshill House, and it is open to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the artists and discuss their work. Advocates will also be present to offer defibrillator and CPR demonstrations. There will be a special training session suitable for all ages, featuring music videos and dance. A key feature of the event is a unique panel discussion that includes sudden cardiac arrest survivors, emergency and medical professionals, and representatives from advocacy organisations.
[QUOTES] “Artists from around the world have lifted their brushes, pens, and carving tools in solidarity to stop the needless deaths of women due to repressive societal standards that inhibit people who need to, as the exhibition organisers like to say, Flash The Boobs to Save A Life.” – HeartCharged
“Working with HeartCharged from the first Zoom call to the snowball effect of getting 36 international artists to donate bespoke exhibition pieces, the whole experience has been exhilarating. Seeing it all come to life in such a beautiful exhibition space makes me immensely proud.” – Charlie Kirkham
The story behind the exhibition begins with Bethany and Hannah Keime, the founders of HeartCharged, who themselves live with the potentially fatal heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They recognised that awareness beforehand and prompt action during a sudden cardiac arrest by ordinary citizens could be the difference between life and death. Their mission became one of educating and training people, from children to adults, in the use of defibrillators and the performance of CPR.
Women have significantly lower survival rates because, even when they could be helped, people often choose not to intervene due to the presence of breasts. It seemed inconceivable that women were being left to die due to this societal inhibition. Currently, women are 1.5 times less likely to receive defibrillation than men and are 1.5 times more likely to die. Bethany and Hannah vowed to challenge this inequity and work towards increasing overall survival rates.
UK artist and heart patient Charlie Kirkham discovered the HeartCharged campaign and was equally committed to raising survival rates for women, children, and men, aiming to elevate them from the current 10% to a possible 70%. She recognised that art could be a powerful medium for conveying the beauty of saving a life, and through increased awareness, people could learn how to do so. Charlie collaborated with fellow artists, reaching out across the globe to bring together 80 artworks from 36 artists. Each piece celebrates the life-saving power we all possess once we learn to respect women’s bodies by saving their lives.
