Lifelines

DAVID ZHAO Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Class of 2023

Art complements health sciences topics well as it is able to represent concepts and information in a visual, more concrete way, making them more easily understood and engaging.

This artwork is an illustration of a heart being pumped by various robotic devices and was inspired by the article ‘Soft robot’ designed to pump failing hearts, introducing the emergence of soft robotics in medicine. Naturally, the waiting lists for heart transplants are long, and many patients die before they are able to receive a transplant. Advancements in soft robotics have made it a favourable field to develop towards to restore cardiac functions temporarily and help the heart pump. Some of the current designs are extremely effective and I’m curious as to what other designs and technology will emerge in the near future.

In addition to the reference article, sci-fi films are another source of inspiration for my artwork. In the films, there are sometimes large glass tubes of liquid that contain preserved organs or organisms floating in within. This was the basis of my artistic design. I decided to work with purple because I wanted to try something unconventional, different from the typical bright red heart that most people have in mind, and impact the mood of the illustration. Following the rule of thirds, the heart is arranged in the bottom right to quickly draw attention to the main aspect of the piece. Wire pumps attached to the heart flow upwards, disappearing in the top left corner, once again following the rule of thirds to naturally direct the eyes of the audience. The thinning out of wires as they approach the top left is used to effectively create the perspective of looking up from slightly under the heart and a sense of distance. The disappearance of the wires is due to the light and liquid masking over them causing them to fade from our visual field which generates a sense of mystery aligning with the sci-fi genre. A robotic hand can also be seen reaching out from the bottom right corner to help pump the heart.

I hope that my artwork is an impactful representation of the topic that will grab the attention of the audience and intrigue them enough to explore the topic on their own.