In spring 2022, I was a Resident Artist at St George’s NHS Hospital in Tooting. I worked with patients, staff and visitors all over the hospital.
A medical space is necessarily aseptic and often anonymous, so it was important to me to bring a little bit of the outside world in to the wards. I devised a series of workshops run with the hospital community to explore the nature found around the hospital grounds, in which they could take a short break from the stress of their situation and experiment with new materials and skills.
This work involved liaising closely with the Arts at St George’s team as well as the hospital staff. Activities had to be engaging, yet adaptable to each patient’s abilities and interests. I travelled around the hospital buildings, working with different people so my activities had to be easy to transport, as well as fit the hospital’s rigorous sanitary requirements.
This project was a thoroughly rewarding experience and it was incredible to see the positive reaction from everyone who encountered the activiites. The necessity of these interventions in care settings is easily overlooked, but they have a huge role to play in making hospitals more ‘human’ spaces.
You can read more about my experience in this interview:
All photos are reproduced with permission and are copyright of Benedict Johnson Photography, St George’s NHS Hospital Tooting, Spring 2022.
