Art matters in shopfront murals for women’s hearts
STREET artist Emmalene Blake, who is part of an all-female art collective, is raising awareness for women’s heart health and encouraging them to make lifestyle changes through a new art mural.
Tallaght native Emmalene Blake, who uses the tag ESTR on all of her murals, is contributing to the #HerHeartMatters campaign this World Heart Day by transforming shopfronts with her art.
The Irish Heart Foundation has joined forces with Ireland’s all-female art collective, Minaw Collective, to bring the Her Heart Matters campaign to life nationwide.
Taking its name for the Irish word for women, ‘mná’, the Minaw Collective comprises a diverse group of artists from all over the world, who are currently based in Ireland.
With World Heart Day taking place today, September 29, the collective created three unique murals in Dublin and Cork to encourage women to make small, sustainable changes to their lives and health.
“As artists in a female lead collective, we jumped at the chance to be involved in such an important campaign,” Emmalene said about the collaboration between the Irish Heart Foundation and Minaw.
“Mothers, sisters, daughters, whatever you choose to do with your life, choose to look after your heart.”
The Her Heart Matters campaign revealed that one-in-four women in Ireland die from heart disease and stroke, meaning that cardiovascular disease kills six times as many women in Ireland as breast cancer.
After the age of 40, risk of heart disease and stroke in women increases as they move into menopause with 30 percent of women not having enough time to focus on their health each day.
Through Her Heart Matters, women over 40 are being encouraged to review their lifestyles and make sustainable changes to improve their heart health.
Each mural was brought to life in shopfronts of Marks & Spencer’s stores by Emmalene, Harriet Myfanwy Nia (who goes by Myfanwynia), Aru (who goes by Bubu) and Zippy.]
Emmalene’s mural can be found at the Grafton Street location.
