Unchain My Heart

Harriet Arthur

Location: 711 Belmont Avenue

Description: Over a lifetime, disappointments large and small cause most of us to become protective of our vulnerable inner selves. We patch things up and do our best not to repeat our mistakes, lest we have our hearts wounded again. In yards, people build fences to define property lines, keep things out, like stray dogs, and to sometimes keep things in, like small children. Using the external means to express internal barriers, “Unchain my Heart” examines the paradox of how keeping things safe also means keeping things locked away, where there is no freedom or space for expansion.

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don’t fence me in
Let me ride in the wide open country that I love
Don’t fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evening breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever, but I ask you, please
Don’t fence me in

— Cole Porter

Bio: Harriet Arthur is a self-described “former extrovert turned recluse” who lives and makes art in central Virginia.