As a symbol of love, the heart is universal. Two thousand hand-made red flags make up the giant one that will beat out an artistic message of compassion next month – all the way from a Cornish hillside to the thousands of refugees who have been forced to flee their homes in war-torn Syria.
The installation will make a brief 48-hour appearance at a surprise prominent location in the county on August 21 and 22, lovingly pinned out by its creators – Caroline Cleave and Franca Westaway – and a team of volunteers under the banner of Have A Heart For Syria.
Each flag costs £1 to sponsor – meaning, they hope, a minimum pot of £2,000 – but the artist friends are confident that those who witness and appreciate the beauty of the heart as it flutters in the landscape will want to add to the total to be donated to Oxfam's Love Syria appeal.
"One little red flag can't achieve much on its own, but collectively they can make something amazing and beautiful," says Caroline.
How the idea took shape was serendipitous, but like all the best plans it has grown organically and it now has legs that could carry it – and the heart itself – all the way to the refugees themselves in a movement that links artists across Britain and beyond. A Devon plan is already taking shape.
Reports and images of human suffering thousands of miles away don't always hit home when we're going about our busy daily lives here in the beautiful Westcountry.
We're lucky to be able to take for granted our personal safety and our basic human rights, and we can rest assured that we will be supplied with clean water and sanitation – the essential basics of civilised existence.
Like most of us, Caroline was aware of the escalating crisis in Syria, where civil war is raging. The latest figures from the United Nations say that 100,000 people have been killed since the conflict began two years ago. Nearly 1.8 million people have fled their homes to seek refuge in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon.
But it hadn't made a fierce connection yet. It was a TV news report that Caroline caught just after she'd driven back to the family home in the fishing village of Port Isaac from the nearby town of Wadebridge (population around 7,000) that touched her so deeply that she became compelled to do something positive and practical.
"I saw the Syrian equivalent of Wadebridge on the television and its people fleeing for their lives," says Caroline.
"It really brought it home to me that evening. It was like the whole population of Wadebridge having to leave their homes, their shops, their businesses and go to another country with only what they could pick up and carry – and through no fault of their own.
"It made me wonder how we would cope in that situation. How would we feel? From then on it was uncanny how every time I switched on the radio or the television there would be another heartbreaking report from Syria."
Gifted in many artistic disciplines, including painting, jewellery and a variety of crafts, Caroline is also a teacher. She has three grown-up sons and is married to Jon Cleave, children's author and bass man of The Fisherman's Friends singing group, and proprietor of a shop in the village.
"Syria is a country that has turned in on itself and you just can't imagine that. There was one story about a family who had to leave the orchard that was their home and livelihood. It would be like coming back to Port Isaac one day to find our house and the business all gone."
The final galvanising image for Caroline was of stripy sheets hung across alleyways in a Syrian conflict zone as a visual shield to protect people from snipers.
"It was a beautiful image; it reminded me of the giant art installations in the landscape by Christo," she says. "But it was a macabre beauty representing the thin line between life and death. From that point I was aware of what was going on in Syria."
It also brought to mind the heart installation that she and Franca created in a field by the A39 near Bude two years ago for Valentine's Day, as a generous gesture to put a smile on people's faces, while bringing art to the public in an unusual way.
On International Women's Day in March, Caroline held a cocktails and cake event at her home, raising about £400 for Oxfam's Syria Appeal. "At the end of the day it is the Syrian women who are having to try and keep their children safe and fed and happy," she says.
Joanna Hulin, until recently the charity's community fundraiser for Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, was so impressed that she took a trip to Port Isaac to swap ideas. In Caroline's workshop Jo saw an image of the original heart of flags; she revealed how the new logo for the Oxfam appeal was a heart shape with the words Love Syria in the middle. It was a perfect match...
Franca, an art teacher at Holsworthy Community College, is delighted to be involved too.
"The whole point of the heart in the first place was to touch people and make a difference. We need to counter the violence of war with love and connection and openness," says Franca, who lives in Bude with her husband, Ian, a builder, and daughters Bina, eight, and Marnie, six.
On a personal note, the flags will also be honouring Roisin, her first baby girl who died 12 years ago, who Franca says opened her own heart.