BMT Ward Arts Consultation: Great Ormond Street Hospital
How do you create an appropriate art intervention for children and young people on a high-risk infection hospital ward?
These are photos of plant-themed artworks created by children and young people on the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) ward at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, a highly-respected hospital that’s been treating young people and children since 1852.
I worked with GOSH Arts to create art interventions and workshops with the children and young people, their carers, and the staff on the ward to better understand their experiences. These qualitative insights formed the basis of a brief for the art commission for the arts strategy of the new ward in the soon-to-be-built Children's Cancer Centre.
As part of these consultations, I undertook art workshops with children and young people being treated on the ward.As bone marrow transplant procedures reduce the body’s ability to fight off infection, children/young people are nursed in purpose-built 'isolation bedrooms' to protect them, often for many weeks or even months! PPE must be worn when entering the room, and visitors and materials entering the room are restricted, which means art materials to be brought in the room are limited as well (no fibres, no sand or feathers, and all materials individually sealed within plastic folders).
So how to create an artwork in this rigorous environment?
I started to research appropriate materials that would work well for this restrictive space and came across colourful, re-positionable static cling window vinyl that would be a perfect way to make an impact in the ward rooms with minimal materials required (just vinyl, scissors, a pencil, and paper).
As plants aren’t allowed anywhere in hospital and the Central London views lack greenery, by using the vinyl I helped children and young people design plants of their own and create some much-needed green views out their windows.
A wonderful impact of my time working with the ward is that this new colourful creative material is now on the radar of the Ward’s Play Team who will use it to help children/young people personalise these stark spaces in the future ... the ultimate result!
