Creative residencies
Hands-on activities provide an important and welcome distraction for
children at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). They also help children
develop a range of skills and improve their confidence.
Each year we hold a creative residence project with
an invited artist who works on a longer term project in a selected
department, these include:
Over the years there have been many documentaries made about GOSH, all from an adult perspective.
We invited film makers Mouth That Roars to work with
children and young people to make a film about the hospital from the
patients’ perspective.
Over a two-week period, children and young people
were involved in filming, sound recording, directing, interviewing and
presenting. The residency was supported by Scott and Suling Mead.
Josh Gaillemin worked with children and young people in the Respiratory Sleep Unit.
Each night, as patients were preparing for their
sleep assessments, Josh would encourage children to create their own
stories. He then created a book, Cuthbert’s Quest for a Bedtime Story,
which brings together elements from these stories.
The book was illustrated by Kirsty Barton - pictures of the characters are on display next to each bedroom within the unit.
This project was generously supported by The Casey
Trust and LexisNexis as part of their RE Cares initiative. Special
thanks to Kirsty Barton for the illustrations and design for the book.
Photographer Nick Veasey joined the Radiology department to become our first X-ray photographer in residence.
Children and young people were invited to X-ray
their favourite item or toy (for example a teddy bear or an iPod) and
both experience the X-ray process from the perspective of the
radiographer and become more familiar with the high-tech equipment and
processes involved.
More than 150 X-ray artworks were created by
patients, families, staff and children. A selection of the images are
now on permanent display in the Radiology department.
Kirsty Barton brought a selection of these images together in a storybook: Hefty’s day in X-ray.
This project was generously funded by the
Friends of GOSH with support from supported by LexisNexis as part of their RE Cares initiative.
Puppeteer
Andy Jones led a series of puppet-making workshops with children from
Rainbow Ward. He taught them how to create their own individual puppets
and craft faces, facial expressions, hairstyles, hats and outfits.
Together, the participants created all the main
characters from Peter Pan before performing their own version of the
world-famous story.
This project was generously funded by the
Friends of GOSH with support from supported by LexisNexis as part of their RE Cares initiative.
Poet
Cherry Smyth visited the Renal Unit to run a series of creative writing
workshops with children and young people while they were having
dialysis.
The children looked at all sorts of creative writing
including rap, poetry and song writing. The final works were
illustrated by Kirsty Barton and published as a book.
This project was generously funded by the
Friends of GOSH with support from supported by LexisNexis as part of their RE Cares initiative.
“The poetry programme is a wonderful idea and a
great way of keeping the children creatively active while they are on
dialysis.” Cyril Chantler, Chairman of the Trust
“The books were really lovely and the kids were so
proud that they had done them. They all wanted to show me what they had
done, some of them really made me smile as the poems are a true
reflection of their personalities!” Cecilia McNeice, Senior Renal Staff
Nurse, GOSH
Artist
Sean Michael carried out workshops in the waiting areas of Elephant Daycare, allowing patients, visitors and staff to observe and take part in
the creative processes of an artist.
The artwork is now on display in the lift lobby near Elephant Daycare.
The residency was supported by the Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award.
“I really enjoyed working with GOSH patients and
felt privileged. The children were among the nicest I have ever worked
with and it seems an incredibly effective place to work as an artist.”
Sean Michael, artist
