Shattered Heart, Reassembled, 2026 *Now Available*
Mixed media: white dress, broken glass, pigment, palladium, selenite, matchbook, holy water from Loretto Chapel, framed mirror 41” x 29”
Price on Request (Contact Us) - 10% of the sale from this piece will go 50/50 to the Artist Fund and the Community Fund.
This dress holds a story of childhood sexual assault, and the assaults thereafter, as well as the unfinished work of healing.
The Mirror
The dress hangs against a mirror and is a recreation and reinterpretation of the white dress with blue flowers that the I wore at age 10, when the first instance of sexual abuse occurred. If you have carried something like this, you are reflected in the mirror too, and you are not alone.
The Heart
Over the chest, shards of broken glass which I smashed using a hammer and glass bottle, form a heart, held together with glue and laced with palladium (Pd) is a rare, silvery-white transition metal, with the chemical symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a strong and resilient metal, yet a delicate element. The glass pieces are sharp, and a heart reassembled. At its center rests a small vial of palladium that pours into the heart to transmute and give strength.
The Stones
I held these stones while I meditated and prayed through my healing. They carry hours of stillness, breath, and asking for help. They are placed here so that stillness can be shared.
The Matches
The matches represent anger. Healing asked me to feel my rage fully and then to use it to confront abuse and speak. Anger can be a spark that lights a path forward to safety and healing.
The Holy Water
The small bottle holds holy water from Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, water many people regard as healing. I used it in prayer, and it now sits at the hem of the dress as a prayer for everyone who stands before this piece.
What Art Gives
Making this piece let me take experiences that were done to me and shape it with my own hands. For the artist, art becomes a place to put what has no other home. For the viewer, it can be permission: to name what happened, to feel what they feel, and to believe healing is possible.
About the Artist
I am Megan Mueller, the founder of Whistle. Whistle is developing the infrastructure to keep access, support, and organizing ecosystems financially sustainable over the long term, and it is building a marketplace for artists, makers, and musicians alongside a mutual aid fund for them and communities. This piece reflects what Whistle believes: that art creates healing and that communities grow stronger when people support each other.
The Tour and Its Keeper
This piece will travel to cities across the United States so survivors and their communities can stand in front of it, see themselves in the mirror, and feel less alone. When the tour ends, it will go home with its buyer, who becomes its keeper and carries forward every person who stood before it.
Tentative Tour cities (2027 - 2029, venues and dates TBD):
Pittsburgh, PA: opening city + Whistle’s homebase
New York, NY
Washington, DC
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Santa Fe, NM: a homecoming for the holy water
Sedona, AZ
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Miami, FL
Phoenix, AZ
Boise, ID
Columbus, OH
New Orleans, LA
Savanna, GA
Phoenix, AZ
Austin, TX
Shattered Heart, Reassembled, 2026 *Now Available*
Mixed media: white dress, broken glass, pigment, palladium, selenite, matchbook, holy water from Loretto Chapel, framed mirror 41” x 29”
Price on Request (Contact Us) - 10% of the sale from this piece will go 50/50 to the Artist Fund and the Community Fund.
This dress holds a story of childhood sexual assault, and the assaults thereafter, as well as the unfinished work of healing.
The Mirror
The dress hangs against a mirror and is a recreation and reinterpretation of the white dress with blue flowers that the I wore at age 10, when the first instance of sexual abuse occurred. If you have carried something like this, you are reflected in the mirror too, and you are not alone.
The Heart
Over the chest, shards of broken glass which I smashed using a hammer and glass bottle, form a heart, held together with glue and laced with palladium (Pd) is a rare, silvery-white transition metal, with the chemical symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a strong and resilient metal, yet a delicate element. The glass pieces are sharp, and a heart reassembled. At its center rests a small vial of palladium that pours into the heart to transmute and give strength.
The Stones
I held these stones while I meditated and prayed through my healing. They carry hours of stillness, breath, and asking for help. They are placed here so that stillness can be shared.
The Matches
The matches represent anger. Healing asked me to feel my rage fully and then to use it to confront abuse and speak. Anger can be a spark that lights a path forward to safety and healing.
The Holy Water
The small bottle holds holy water from Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, water many people regard as healing. I used it in prayer, and it now sits at the hem of the dress as a prayer for everyone who stands before this piece.
What Art Gives
Making this piece let me take experiences that were done to me and shape it with my own hands. For the artist, art becomes a place to put what has no other home. For the viewer, it can be permission: to name what happened, to feel what they feel, and to believe healing is possible.
About the Artist
I am Megan Mueller, the founder of Whistle. Whistle is developing the infrastructure to keep access, support, and organizing ecosystems financially sustainable over the long term, and it is building a marketplace for artists, makers, and musicians alongside a mutual aid fund for them and communities. This piece reflects what Whistle believes: that art creates healing and that communities grow stronger when people support each other.
The Tour and Its Keeper
This piece will travel to cities across the United States so survivors and their communities can stand in front of it, see themselves in the mirror, and feel less alone. When the tour ends, it will go home with its buyer, who becomes its keeper and carries forward every person who stood before it.
Tentative Tour cities (2027 - 2029, venues and dates TBD):
Pittsburgh, PA: opening city + Whistle’s homebase
New York, NY
Washington, DC
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Santa Fe, NM: a homecoming for the holy water
Sedona, AZ
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Miami, FL
Phoenix, AZ
Boise, ID
Columbus, OH
New Orleans, LA
Savanna, GA
Phoenix, AZ
Austin, TX
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