An exhibition diving into the world of love, loss, and emotional resistance, this photo series was born out of back-to-back events experienced by Zoë in early 2018. It grew into a personal documentation of how people experience and work through heartbreak.

The monochrome portraits on view showcased a microcosm of faces that experienced distress from love. Whether the heartache stemmed from familial, platonic, work-related, or romantic loss is inconsequential — the focusas w solely on uncovering the depths of the psyche and human emotions in handling love and loss. When exhibited, audio snippets of conversations discussing heartbreak’s aftereffects played throughout the space, and various melodies — at times mimicking a heartbeat — resulted in a multi-sensory experience.

Eleven statements were heard over the exhibition’s duration and are taken verbatim from recorded conversations had with Zoë about heartbreak. These snippets were re-recorded using her voice to provide a privacy shield for those disclosing their stories. (It is easy to assume something about a person when they are heard as well as seen; however, if they are only heard in a monotonous tone, it is harder to pair with an image and harder to stereotype.)

Living in a society that seems to be increasingly divisive and judgmental, The Heartbroke Project served to challenge stereotypes and acted as a platform for recognizing that regardless of the color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation of a person, humans are invariably complex and unified by several emotions certain to be experienced in a lifetime, including — no matter the cause — a broken heart.

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