Donna Wilson + Vital Arts + Royal London Hospital

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People say the effect is only on the mind. It is no such thing. 

The effect is on the body, too. Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, by colour, and light, we do know this, that they have an actual physical effect. 

Variety of form and brilliancy of colour in the objects presented to patients, are actual means of recovery.

-Florence Nightingale

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Hi everyone,

We'd like to share with you some news about a project we've been working on over the past few weeks, which we're very proud to be a part of - we are currently working on a commission through arts organization Vital Arts and The Royal London Hospital.  Vital Arts is the arts and health organisation for Barts Health LNHS Trust, charitably funded to deliver arts programmes for the wellbeing of the hospital community.

My team and I have been working on creating an installation and mural in the children's intensive care ward at the Royal London Hospital in an effort to create a positive environment to help make things feel a bit brighter for all who visit the ward. 

  

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Art has proven, throughout paediatric hospitals all over the world, to be an invaluable aid for staff in either distracting children from the more frightening elements of a hospital visit, or simply by positively engaging the patients at a hospital.

Over the past few weeks we have been painting an oversized graphic landscape on the walls of the children's ward. The rural scene features mountains and hills with bright colours and lots of different textures.

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The textured patterns on the hills were created with rubber stamps, which we applied by hand with the help of some of the lovely patients at the hospital. During these workshops, we hoped to give patients a chance to get involved in beautifying their surroundings and also just to spend time doing a simple but fun activity!

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So far we have been able to paint the walls and stamp, but we're still working on installing wooden trees and the last remaining elements of the installation. We hope to complete the project in the coming weeks and as soon as we do, we will be sure to share some photos!