We are excited to announce that Devon Partnership NHS Trust has partnered with Hospital Rooms, an arts and mental health charity, to create artworks for three inpatient mental health wards at Torbay Hospital.
The project is supported by local partners. Healthwatch Torbay and Torbay Culture are advising on the local context, opportunities, and challenges. As part of the project’s commitment to work with local talent from Torbay and South Devon, Hospital Rooms is also being supported by Artizan Gallery to reach and discover creative practitioners from within the region who will deliver and benefit from this initiative. The project has also been supported by construction firm Kier and fashion retailer Anthropologie.
Hospital Rooms commission extraordinary artworks for mental health inpatient units across the UK. The charity helps turn clinical, cold and sometimes frightening rooms in to welcoming, soothing and beautiful spaces. They work with acclaimed regional, national and international artists, who in turn workshop with staff and service users to come up with radically new visuals for each space.
Devon Partnership NHS Trust have worked with Hospital Rooms previously, commissioning artwork for both The Junipers, a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, and Jasmine Lodge, a Mother and Baby Unit. Turner Prize nominated artist Mark Titchner created artwork for the MBU in 2019. Mark talks through the process of creating the artwork in the film here.
This latest Hospital Rooms project will see the proposed creation of 15 artworks, five on each ward. A series of workshops will be hosted involving the artists, staff, service users and carers to generate ideas for the artworks. Plans are provisionally in place for the project to begin in November 2021. Once completed, and COVID-19 guidance permitting, it is hoped that an exhibition of the artwork will be opened to the public. This will help promote the project and demonstrate how art and creativity can be made accessible to people even at the most difficult times.
Presentation: An introduction to Hospital Rooms
For more information contact niamh@hospital-rooms.com
