Míša Hejná
Beautiful artwork
Dear Readers,
It’s 2026, and with that, Arrhythmia Magazine is once again open to submissions! Please check our Submission Guidelines post before you submit to us.
We’ve missed all of you and hope you’ve had a fruitful few months during our short break. The editor (Amanda) has had an eventful few months, from performing her original songs to launching a new poetry collection and gaining some work experience as an assistant editor at an educational publishing company. Feel free to let us know in the comments how your past few months have been and if you’ve experienced any interesting events.
Today, we welcome the work of Míša Hejná. Míša brings us a variety of paintings, all centered around the image of a heart. We love that the paintings match the theme and essence of Arrhythmia Magazine, and the colors look gorgeous.
We will provide the artwork descriptions and Míša Hejná’s bio before presenting the paintings.
“A heart frozen”, “A heart empathic”, “A heart beat of out”
These three hearts form part of a larger collection of different states of the heart and are made primarily with alcohol ink.
“A heart frozen” represents the heart of those of us who may have built a wall around their hearts - what lies behind that wall? Why is the wall there? Is the heart aware of being wrapped by a wall of frost?
“A heart empathic” was created after I experienced someone else’s feelings for an hour, not at first understanding where these very sad and dark feelings had come from. Having passed through my own heart, they disappeared as fast as they appeared, but they left a memory of the other person’s heart within mine. I’ll never know whose feelings those were, but I’ll always remember. The heart empathic does not have to be a sad heart, but the painting was made immediately after this specific experience. If you were to paint the state of the heart of another being you’re with right now, what would it look like?
“A heart beat of out” was inspired by Arrhythmia Magazine. Do we always listen to our own heart, especially when it might be out of rhythm, for a range of reasons? “A heart beat of out” is a reminder for us to listen to the music of our heart and to remember the heartbeat of others as we interact with them.
Míša Hejná writes and performs poetry in Denmark. Her work combines the textual, the visual, and the aural. She paints primarily with watercolours, ink, and menstrual fluid. Míša has published her work in anthologies in Denmark as well as in 149 Review, Asterales, Cacti Fur, Brief Wilderness, En*gendered, The World Insane, Yīn Literary, and 34 Orchard.
What do you think of these vibrant paintings? Any adjectives come to mind? We are so glad we could host Míša Hejná’s paintings on our Substack, and we hope you felt the heartbeat of her works as strongly as we did.
Next week, we have some poetry to share, so keep an eye out for that!
Submissions are open, so feel free to tell your friends and family that we are open to submissions.
If you’d like to support the magazine and make a donation, please click the link on the word “donation” and it’ll take you to Amanda’s (founder of Arrhythmia) PayPal link. That’s the only viable way of receiving donations for the magazine as of now.
If you would like to show your appreciation for anybody whose work has appeared in Arrhythmia, send us an email with your message inquiry, and we can take care of sending them your token of appreciation, whether that’s a personal note of encouragement or monetary support.
See you all next week!
Oh my goodness, these are gorgeous! The striking colors are so expressive and active, the style really resonates with me. Thanks for sharing!
My heart has experienced all the emotions this year, so I find these paintings unique, and very beautiful.