My mother and nearly all of her seven siblings suffered from premature cardiovascular disease and highly elevated cholesterol levels. My sister died of a heart attack at age 42.

This legacy has influenced me in a lot of ways. I strictly avoided taking up smoking. I regularly monitor my heart disease risk markers. And, sometimes, I fight a sense of impending doom.

One summer at the Penland School, I used the printmaking workshop to explore the idea of “broken hearts” in the medical sense. Here are some of the series.