The Hearts
Whisper

Even before the war, I had the idea of creating a deck of cards called Heart. But as usual life got in the way and it was a project put to one side. Instead the war came sneakily and swiftly into our lives. Changing so much. 

Instead it took away our joy and has instilled days and night filled with fear. And I didn’t paint for many days. I didn’t want to paint.  The frightening images that became my reality and the reality of thousands – I didn’t want to re-create. 

I realise now that I have always been drawn to paint things that I admire. When I admire something I immediately imagine how to draw it, what colours to use, how to place it on a sheet of paper. Having painted many therapy stones –  through my lens I observe stones and always think about what a particular stone would be good for. What can I draw on it. It’s comparable to the way people now look at the world through a phone camera. It gives me an opportunity to be in a constant creative process. Up until now – this creativity  helped me to relive again and again the pleasurable moments in life.

Drawing is kind of an anchor for me. Drawing, it’s like a part of me, ever since I was a child. For as long as I can remember myself. Art is like air, like water, like life. With the outbreak of war I stopped drawing.  I know it’s natural in such an extreme situation. What I found frightening, is that I didn’t want to paint. No images of joy. No hope. Only fear, pain, death, emptiness, a black, dark emptiness. This became my life. To survive, to survive, to survive. To wake up, to sleep, to survive, to protect the children. that was all that was in my heart.

But what kept me going was the fact that there were many people around me to protect my soul. Prayer, support, correspondence, financial help, and lots of time with friends from abroad. The people I painted for, my friends, teachers, colleagues. All friends from other countries became for me the saving hand of God.

Because here in Ukraine all my friends were in a similar situation. We were running, saving, finding ways to keep our children safe, looking for money, sending men to war. We didn’t have time to support each other emotionally. Thanks to communication with you and especially with Yasmin and my daughter Sasha I understood that it is necessary to draw.

Yasmin helped and encouraged me, she helped me in my pictures to go beyond the war, to see eventually the light, the hope.  As I painted I realised that I have the power only to paint in silence, because to express in words what is happening, it is simply not possible. Yasmin became my mouth and hands in organising and promoting this deck.

She choose a wonderful name for our deck  “The Hearts Whisper” Thanks to our collaboration with Yasmin the whole world will be able to see what an ordinary mother, sister, psychologist, teacher, woman is going through. What it means to send one son abroad for his safety and send the other one to the battlefield. In one moment doing maths with my youngest at a distance and then minutes later looking for a bulletproof vest to protect the eldest one here in Ukraine. What it means to make a decision, to stay and wake up to explosions, to hear the sound of sirens in the middle of a dark, cold night, to freeze or run away.

Yasmin also helped me to see the images as an internal war in the human heart and mind.  The roller coaster of emotions we are fighting – this can also be a constant heavy war. My daughter Sasha supported me in many ways so that I could draw. She believed that this deck would help not only us, but also many other people. She helped me free up time for creativity. And for nearly seven weeks I spent almost all the nights drawing.

Sasha and I cannot talk to each other about our deep feelings. About how mother and young wife are devastated at what we see around us.  Instead we shed our tears alone, because if we cry together, we would drown in our tears. Discussing pictures and images helps us. It feels safer talking about the war through discussing our ideas for the deck of cards, helping us to process our emotions.  Sasha edited and scanned all the photos whist we explored ideas.

I acknowledge over time, the paintings have became brighter and lighter. I have stuck to some concept in my drawings. I understand that these cards will be used for many people and children, so I decided to avoid vivid re-traumatisation. I didn’t draw the emotions on the faces. I expressed the images of death and devastation through the images of hearts. It also helped me not to traumatise myself again and again drawing pictures of separation, loss, pain, and grief.

Also drawing and expressing the heart through a simple image allows a person to imagine and describe their feelings, helps them to find the right metaphor, and encourages them to draw their heart. That’s why I have included a card with a white heart in the deck, so the user can draw and describe their own heart.

I don’t know if it will have a future, if it will be popular, but the fact that this deck has already saved one of my lives, my life, is true. The more I have drawn hearts, the more I believe in light in victory in love, in goodness.

I believe that we will win, that we will blossom, that we will be free. Even my own death will not stop this belief.

Slava Ukraini

Katerina 

Through my company Watoto Play Ltd I am the publisher and distributor for The Hearts Whisper Deck of Cards and merchandise. 

For me personally the word “war” is also a metaphor for the internal war, the struggle  that each one of us has with ourselves. Our struggle with the stories we tell ourselves. Our struggle with the stories we are told. Our struggle with the trapped pain of generations – that becomes our pain & the pain of our children’s. Our struggle with the darker side of humanity. Our struggle to do better. To be better.

 I firmly believe the hearts wellbeing is at the core to our day to day well-being, the well-being of our families, our communities & society. 

For me the heart has always held personal significance.  It was the sudden loss of my father aged 13 that has shaped my interest in The British Heart Foundation. I have grown up  believing my fathers death was due to a broken heart – and there is now scientific evidence that one can die from a broken heart*.

Looking  back in history at the role of the heart, I always found it fascinating  – The Egyptians – their weighing of the heart  ceremony. How a heavy heart was a sign of a life of told untruths.

As a therapist working specifically with anger – I see only too often how we can condition ourselves to suppress  what the heart wants to feel, what it try’s to quietly whisper. Often denying what it holds.  My belief is over time these hearts whispers left unheard may manifest into issues such as but not limited to fear, depression, anxiety, rage, aggression or violence. 

The aim of “the hearts whisper” deck is through imagery to gently bring into awareness what the heart holds. What  makes the heart heavy.  What is finds  difficult perhaps impossible to verbalise. 

Raising awareness and processing what the heart holds  – it can help heal the heart, releasing the heavy burden  … and letting in new life.  Giving oneself the ultimate gift of setting oneself  free. 

But just as importantly to connect the hearts whisperings to the brain and the gut and create a holistic connection where they are able to exist in harmony. 

The Hearts Whisper also symbolises the resilience my dear friend Katerina and thousands others have shown through difficult times. The resilience humankind has shown through generations of trauma. 

“The Hearts Whisper – In Loving Memory Of  Those Past That Continue To Quietly Whisper. “ 

I sincerely wish your heart to flutter freely once more.

Love & Peace To You All

Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar

Ushko Alexandra endearingly known as Sasha was born in November 1995. She graduated from school in 2013 and entered Berdyansk State Pedagogical University – studying the specialty of preschool pedagogy.

In 2017 she received her bachelor’s degree, and begun work at the university in the department of pre-school education and continued to study psychology. In 2019 she successfully completed her master’s work “The Influence of Ukrainian folklore on the formation of speech of preschool children” and received a diploma of “Practical Psychologist”. In 2019 she began work in a kindergarten as a methodologist.

Katerina says about Sasha ” Ushko Alexandra is a wonderful girl. She became my daughter in 2018. She was born and raised in eastern Ukraine. Was a participant and observer of the war in Ukraine for 8 years. She saw the whole process of the occupation of the eastern territories. Unfortunately, she has to experience all sides of the war again. So Sasha actively shared her experiences from the past and now. Which has helped to create many of the pictures in our deck. She is a true warrior. Sasha is a professional. She is a young up-and-coming psychologist who loves working with children. 

Verity has plans to begin University in September 2022 to study Game Development & Design in the U.K. Currently she is enjoying the summer and working full time  having completed her A-levels – Computer Science, Graphic Design & Mathematics. 

Verity is responsible for maintaining www.theheartswhisper.co website and fulfilment of orders & shipping. All orders are shipped out weekly on a Saturday and orders must be received by  the Saturday to be shipped out the following Monday.