Anita Glesta (New York, New York, 1958) has long been fascinated by the human body. Her interest in “the heart as a metaphor” was spurred when she experienced a disturbing cardiac event, the nature of which her doctors could not pinpoint. Although the artist made a complete recovery, the experience propelled her towards thinking about the enigmatic mind-body connection, which remains not fully understood by science. In creating her videos, Glesta recorded cardiograms and MRIs, combining them with animation shot in slow motion using a Plexiglas box, medical imagery, blooms of ink, depictions of organs, and soundtracks inspired by the rhythms of the human body. Cardiac Harmonium’s swelling chords are drawn from the shifting tempo of the human heartbeat, falling in and out of time, suggesting normal function, then of adrenaline, and cardiac crisis. The heart beats that flutter across her animation are poetically interspersed with images such as the frantic flapping of dove’s wings, that variously suggest the rise of the spirit, the intense labor of the beating wing, and a metaphor for the Angel of Death.