28/09/2023
‘Bizarre World’ | Collage images and string on paper | 2023
‘Bizarre World’ is an artwork that is currently on display at both hospitals, St Vincent’s Fitzroy & St George’s Kew, as part of our ‘Space to Pause’ exhibition. It explores the surreal and often foreign environment that is a hospital. With a concoction of patients, visitors, workers, scary-looking equipment, gowns, blaring white lights (and more), the artwork references what exists physically within the clinical space, but with an almost magical spin on it all.
How do we manage the surreal and real within the bizarre world of a hospital?
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In November 2022, we facilitated a 4 week creative program at St Vincent’s Fitzroy & St George’s Kew for all hospital staff called ‘Space to Pause’. This involved weekly drop-in art spaces where staff were invited to pause, take a breath between obligations and add some creative slowness to their day, with focus on relaxation, reflection and reconnection. We created an exhibition as a way to capture what creative wellbeing can look like, and to provide a visual record of staff wellbeing at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
The artworks in the exhibition have been created by CAYA Art Space in response to the rich conversations and creative processes shared by staff, both during and outside of program hours. These interactions explored experiences within their hospital roles, as well as individuals out of their uniforms. By offering our artworks as a witness for the exhibition, staff were able to play, create and experiment with art-making without pressure of displaying publicly when finished. We hope these works honour the magic that was shared and produced during the program by all staff involved.
Art Therapy in Brunswick West, Naarm. (Co-founders are Giulia Di Sipio & Jordana Kornfeld)
