Holly Ahern and Eden Crawford-Harriman are two names you may not know – yet – but one of their artworks is certainly gathering fame as a symbol of hope and strength for our flood-ravaged town.

You’ve sat by it downtown or wandered passed. You’ve seen it on multiple media platforms since Lismore came and went as headline disaster news.

And now you will see it on t-shirts as part of a humble but wildly successful grassroots fundraising campaign.

In the Heart stands bold on the corner of Magellan and Carrington Streets as an entry piece to the laneways beyond and behind which are home to the Back Alley Gallery.

Eden – who grew up in Lismore and attended Woodlawn - and Holly – who settled here 10 years ago - met with the Lismore App to tell the tale of how the heart grew from idea to icon.

“The Back Alley Gallery had a revitalisation grant that was state government funded. It was given to the council to reinvigorate that space through green spaces and commission three artists to do an entry marker, a digital media sign and some way-finding pieces,” Eden explained.

“We originally applied with an expression of interest for a smaller grant, we were straight out of uni. We did a collaborative honours together at SCU in art,” Eden added.

“We had this concept of doing a simple neon style sign on a brick wall with the hands holding a heart, just an outline. Then all of the people on the board that were deciding about the space liked it so much they said, "can you make it the entry marker and can you make it bigger?” Eden continued.

“It went from being 2D to 3D. It was a moment when we got this email that was super exciting,” Holly added.

“But also incredibly daunting, how the hell do we make this? Frantically, for two weeks, we were calling caravan places, can you fibreglass this? I’m at home trying to describe what the concept is and they were like… I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Eden explained.

With a limited timeframe to complete the work, the artist partners pondered what other possible materials could be used to realise the work.

“We were at a loss of how to do it so I called a friend who makes lighting installations and set design for bush doofs. I thought, if anyone knows how to make something weird – it’s this guy. So, I called him and asked if he knew anyone and he said, ‘you’ve got to call Steve’. So, I called this guy Steve, he’s got this amazing studio in the Pocket, near Mullum, called Studio Kite. He’s got one of Australia’s biggest 3D printers, their whole team is amazing to work with. They really helped us out. They make props for movies,” Eden explained.

“First, we designed it on computer – it went from being a post-it note drawing of a heart to a clay sculpture. Then I realised I’m hopeless at sculpting,” Holly said.

“But the whole thing is actually 3D printed with one of Australia’s biggest 3D printers. It’s made of recycled ABS fabric, the same type of plastic that’s used to make Lego. It’s all recycled. It’s got a conduit that runs up the left hand for the light. It’s this honeycomb kind of mesh that gets printed to create the solidity,” Eden described.

As a public art installation, the heart and hands endured rigourous testing in the lead-up to being installed in their permanent home.

“When we were installing it we thought, yes it could potentially flood here in the next 10 years but we never anticipated it would happen four months after installation,” Holly said.

“It was actually tested throughout the process. We had to test it with an engineer, being hit with a sledgehammer and being run into with a car at 50 kms per hour. It survived those tests. It was protocol through council, we needed to do that to ensure that vandals couldn’t destroy it. There is a huge steel structure within the hands that actually pins it to the concrete slab under it,” she continued.

The complete work was 3D printed in six sections over a period of approximately 12 hours and was installed at the end of October last year.

“At the same time we were there in Steve’s studio, there was a dinosaur being printed. Our heart and hands looked tiny next to it,” Holly mused.

Whilst excited by the work and its outcomes, the pair were not without trepidation as the work took its place in the CBD.

Second floor of the Rural Street studio that Holly and Eden share with several other local artists still in flood recovery

“We had this moment in installation where I was really nervous about backlash from the community. In the past there’s been backlash with public sculpture and artists and spending that money on art instead of …the roads,” Holly said.

“People perhaps don’t understand that those art grants are not just money that could have been spent on potholes. It’s money that is actually put aside for art,” Eden added.

Such was their doubt that they decided to not put the traditional plaque in place near the work that names the artists, just for the first month. Six months and two floods later, they still haven’t put the plaque in place. They both agree now they need to and they will.

With concerns about vandalism, the artists decided to add an anti-graffiti coating once the work was installed. Incredibly, that coating also served as an anti-flood mud product.

“It actually made all the mud slide off it. We never expected it to be almost like it was before the flood. When we went down there during the clean-up, everything in that space was brown and the sculpture was so bright and vibrant,” Holly said.

Seeing artist friends and others in the thriving Lismore arts community lose so much in the floods, Holly and Eden decided to dabble in a small fundraising project to support their peers. Their aim was to design, print and sell some t-shirts that included the hands and heart image and distribute the few hundred dollars of expected profit.

Then one night, after Holly created the t-shirt design on her computer, Holly and Eden posted the idea on their social media pages.

“1700 people shared it and we raised $20,000 in 48 hours,” Holly laughed.

“My account got frozen on the first day, there was too much money coming in. I had to go through all the hoops to get the money released from my paypal account so I could actually pay for the shirts to get made….We’re working with a really cool company to print them. It’s a Brisbane company but the owner actually grew up in Lismore and he reached out to us to help us. He gave us an amazing rate to print them, he’s been helping us every step of the way,” Eden said.

With 100% of the profits going to support the flood-affected community, these entrepreneurial artists are now collaborating with Arts Northern Rivers to administer the funding and have just launched their next round of t-shirt sales.

Pre-orders are now open at this link.

“It was thousands of dollars more than what we hoped to raise. To be able to use the accidental exposure for the community is awesome.”

Awesome indeed.

To see more of what these local artists are up to visit www.hollyahern.com and www.edencrawford.com