Artists Install 100 Artworks Across London Hospital Rooms for Mental Wellness

The United Kingdom’s Barts Health NHS Trust has enlisted the help of 100 artists to donate artworks to display across 100 hospital rooms in London. Dubbed #100NHSRooms, the organization’s aim for the charitably funded initiative is to provide rest and respite for clinical staff and patients amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Original works are currently being displayed at St Bartholomew’s, Royal London Hospital, Whipps Cross, Mile End and Newham Hospital.

“With mounting evidence demonstrating the benefits of art on mental health in clinical settings, the initiative will be a lasting legacy of a commitment to the wellbeing of NHS frontline workers,” as per statement by Vital Arts. #100NHSRooms is an initiative of Vital Arts (the Arts & Health service for Barts Health NHS Trust), Shezad Dawood and Modern Forms.

Artists who have donated works for the initiative include Barbara Walker, Charles Avery, Shiraz Bayjoo, Rana Begum, Victor Burgin, Matthew Burrows, and many others. “The project responds to the current pandemic, but the impact of the artworks will extend beyond it, recognising the adverse effects of intense pressure on staff and promoting the importance of an enhanced environment for reflection and calm,” the organization added.

Take a look at select works in the slideshow above and visit Vital Arts’ website for more details.

Elsewhere in art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago recently announced that it will stop contracting the city police until the department makes reforms to support the Black Lives Matter movement.