Helen Keller lost her sight, hearing and speech at eighteen months. Her adoring family indulged and protected her. However, it wasn’t until her tutor Annie Sullivan entered Helen’s life that, after a dramatic clash of wills, Helen’s heart, mind and spirit were free to soar.

The painted, winged, clay heart contained within the wire-wool nest portrays the initial relationship between Helen and her family:
‘before my teacher came to me I did not know that I am, I lived in a world that was a no-world’ (Helen Keller)

The remarkable insights and courage in Helen Keller’s writings have inspired generations, revealing what Annie referred to as: Helen’s ‘seeing, thinking, feeling, heart’.