Hacer de Tripas Corazon

 Shanna Glawson.  2015. Cardboard, tissue paper, paint, mixed media. 

It measured approximately three feet high and weighed roughly fifty pounds. It was then installed in front of Owen Hall on the UNC Asheville campus, ready to be destroyed.

Sometimes I face personal fears through creating interactive and community engaging art. “Hacer de tripas corazon” is a Spanish phrase that means “to make guts from heart”. We make guts from heart when we do something we don’t really want to do or something we’re scared of doing. Since we need to face the situation, we try to do it by leaving our feelings and emotions aside (that’s the heart), and acting with our guts. Through this event we, as members of a school and community, came together and connected via an anatomical heart shaped piñata. Participants were equipped with a blindfold, a protective jacket, and a stick with a sharp end. They then took turns swinging at the piñata in an attempt to destroy it and reveal the contents. Through this interaction the audience was able to relate to this abuse of the heart through their own experience of personal pain and elations. These stirred up sentiments should inspire the viewer to listen to what their own heart is telling them.