Charing Cross Hospital Project - Group work - Research
During a visit to the Breast Cancer Care waiting room in early 2020 I realised there were no artworks to distract my gaze. The room's atmosphere was quite intense and everyone there felt desperate for a distraction, mainly from their own thoughts.
When we were set the task of working as a group I decided to contact the Imperial Trust who manage Charing Cross hospital to see if we could create some art for their waiting room walls. After a long email trail I finally got in touch with the correct person and she seemed very interested in our offer. I asked a group of student friends who were in the studio that day and they all agree they would like to be involved.
Imperial Trust wanted to see examples of our work and planned a meeting to decide if they thought our work would be suitable. I co-ordinated each artist to send through a sheet showing examples of their work and a few words about their practice.
We, as a group were all approved and I had a zoom call with my contact at the hospital to go through a few rules and regulations. The list was extensive! No distortion of any kind, no red or brown colours, no fabric (canvas was ok), A3 or smaller, add something which ties the work together, etc. the list continued. All the regulations made sense but it became quite restrictive when we started the artworks.
Throughout our process we held online meetings as a group to discuss ideas and themes. We came up with the theme of 'Hope'. Deciding that the women in the waiting room would benefit from hopeful, positive and uplifting artworks around them. During our meetings we realised that everyone in the group had been touched by cancer in their families, so everyone understood the importance of our work sending the right message.
During the process of we decided to add the colour yellow as a constant in each piece of work to further tie our work together.
The plan was to hang the artwork in April 2021 but the the second wave of the pandemic hit. December onwards meant all hands on deck at Charing Cross hospital including their art buyer. The project went on hold until further notice. We had not managed to get our ideas and rough sketches signed off by the trust so we were unable to work on the artwork during lockdown.
Finally we were contacted in April to say please go ahead! We all worked on our artworks and sent them in for approval. I created a collage using found images which works with my practice of giving found objects a new life. I brought in elements on screen printed yellow and used photographic images layered to create a hopeful image. I wanted the viewer to see more the longer they looked, showing all the elements we miss and long for in difficult times.
The artworks are being collected on 13th May and the hospital will be framing all artworks in a uniform manner. The artworks will sit in the new re-design waiting area. We have decided to 'gift' our art to the trust, we felt it was the right thing to do and easier for the trust to manage going forward. If we have images of the artwork hanging in the rooms I will post below. Watch this space!
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