SERVICE-USER ART AND ACTIVISM
the pain of being human. Just imagine if we censor it all unless it is positive, and what a boring gallery it would then be. We’d lose so much beautiful art. I would like to see more art questioning what it is to be human, and not hiding away from certain issues.”
The diversity issue DS: “Also, there’s the diversity issue; a lot of psychiatric spaces are used by a majority who are people of colour, and they are surrounded by posters and art by white people of white people. It doesn’t talk to their life at all, and I’m wondering why? Why aren’t they doing something to reflect the world the service-users are in? They need to make a purposeful decision to source more artists of colour, and for them to create work with that group as well, so they understand that. I said to people when I was working at the Recovery College: ‘Why can’t we have people of colour in these posters or a gay person?’ So, I believe in art in hospitals that comes alongside people where they are, and talks about what is it is to be human.” HC: “What changes do you want to see that you view as being the next most important step?” DS: “I’m not sure what the next step is, but what I would like to see is the system having more self-awareness about itself and its role. Mental health conditions might have a biological route, but they are definitely made worse by a lot of things – like unstable housing, poverty, and domestic violence; all those sorts of things. I would like for some things to go back to where you got more social support, help with housing, and stuff like that. And I want psychiatry and psychology to understand where they play a role in causing trauma. “For example, when I was crying in the
communal room when I was in hospital, it was like I saw two different ways of being human. One of the other patients saw me crying, and went to the hallway and got a cold drink from the machine, and gave it to me, and that just meant so much. “Then I needed to go to the toilet.
You had to ask for toilet paper, and they used to give you just this tiny little piece of paper, so that shows what they were thinking. I compared that to how easy it was for the other patient to help me, and how damaging the latter kind of experience was, and it all happened in the space of 20 minutes. In 20 years’ time I don’t want people experiencing the same kind of stuff. I want things to evolve so that in 2030, 2050, or even in 100 years’ time, people look back and say: ‘Yes, the system was not right, and we have made it better.’ ”
*Dolly Sen will give a conference keynote speech titled ‘Art Insists the Walls Be Kind’ at 1.30 pm on Wednesday 5 June at Design in Mental Health 2024.
THE NETWORK | MAY 2024
Lasting shift through ‘world-class artworks’ at Hellesdon Hospital
A hospital project in Norwich is aiming to create ‘lasting shifts in mental health settings with world-class artworks’. Charity, Hospital Rooms – which creates ‘museum-quality’ artwork for mental health hospitals through a process of co-production and collaboration to transform environments, culture, and experience – is working with internationally- renowned local and national artists, patients, and staff, at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to create 15 major artworks for the new Rivers Centre, currently under construction at Hellesdon Hospital. The new inpatient facility will incorporate 48 en-suite bedrooms across three wards. It is hoped the new facilities will start welcoming patients by this autumn, before work begins to refurbish two existing wards on the site – Yare and Waveney – to further improve safety and quality. The scheme will see the total number of beds at the Norwich site extended to 80 by the end of this summer. The plan is for four of the five wards to be single gender. Hospital Rooms Senior Project curator, Tim Steer, said: “We’re thrilled and immensely proud to be working with Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust on what is our most innovative project to date.” The Hellesdon project also involves Norwich University of the Arts, Sainsbury Centre, and Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. Debs Agar, lead occupational therapist at Hellesdon, said: “I have worked at Hellesdon Hospital for over 11 years, and it has been so refreshing to be involved in this project to create a better environment for the people we support. It has been a pleasure to see the collaborative work between the artists coming in, and our patients and staff at Hellesdon, especially with everyone inspiring and motivating each other to produce quality art.” The Trust says the project has included 70 art workshops across wards, and has ‘helped reach hundreds of people from diverse populations and people who have previously been marginalised and under-represented in service design and delivery’. These sessions will inspire the artists’ final installations. One inpatient said: “I am keen to come back and see that my small contribution
today will have a lasting impact into the future on the care for people who may, like me, experience a difficult and dark chapter in their lives.” Dr Sophie Bagge, who is leading the project for NSFT, said: “The workshops
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have been an immense privilege to be a part of. They have created connection, conversation, reflection, intrigue, and – most importantly – hope. We are honoured to be Hospital Rooms’ biggest project to date. The artwork will be a key part of our culture change, and – most importantly – have a positive impact on people’s experience of mental health hospitals.” Top right, Dolly Sen is pictured looking at clocks painted by service-users as part of a workshop for the exhibition of items from the ‘old’ Hellesdon Hospital – a collaboration as part of the Being Human National event.
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Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust / Hospital Rooms
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