Exhibitions

Great Ormond Street Hospital  (GOSH) has two exhibition spaces where GO Create! host a range of temporary exhibitions.

Current exhibition - Photographing Change project

GOSH is currently going through a major redevelopment programme to provide modern clinical facilities, improve the quality of care and enhance the environment for our patients, families and staff.

During Phase 2 of the redevelopment, the GO Create! arts and creativity programme commissioned photographer Simon Terrill to document the changing face of the hospital.

Simon was the photographer in residence from January to July 2012. His photographs captured patients, families and staff members as they spent their last few months in their previous wards before moving into the Morgan Stanley Clinical Building, the first part of the Mittal Children's Medical Centre, in Spring 2012. 

At the same time, he also captured the operational commissioning phase (the stage following completion of the construction works) to show the transformation from an empty building to one populated by patients, family members and staff.

Simon's images have now been published in the book Photographing Change, Great Ormond Street Hospital. A selection are also currently on display in The Lagoon until Summer 2013.

GO Create! and Simon would like to thank all patients, families and staff members who took part in this very special project.

Simon said: "These images are a small sample of the great richness I encountered at GOSH. I hope they convey something of the tremendous spirit on display during this process of change."

Current exhibition - Staff photography exhibition 2013

Each year we hold an annual staff photography competition, inviting staff from across the Trust to send in their favourite images. 

The standard of photography is exceptional and this annual competition really reflects the highly creative talents of our staff. This is a very popular staff initiative which sees more and more entrants each year. This year's selected images are on display in the Level 2 Cardiac Corridor exhibition area.

Imaginary Lands - an annual exhibition of art works created by patients of the hospital school

A collaborative seven-metre long artwork inspired primarily by traditional Chinese landscape scrolls and David Hockney, with further inspiration from artists John Piper, Paul Klee and Raoul Dufy.

Take a trip through seascapes, urban scenes, fantastical waterfalls, firework displays, deserts, night skies and jungles all created by the children in the GOSH schoolroom.

Over five one-hour sessions between April and July 2012 children at the GOSH schoolroom worked together, alongside the resident schoolroom artist Elizabeth Cook, to develop a continuous and connected series of landscape scenes.

The children studied selected landscape images and then motivated each other creatively as their ideas materialised into their own personal artwork.

The materials used for this piece were acrylic paint, pen and ink, handmade collage papers, tissue paper, graphite sticks and oil pastels. The scroll was then cut into sections for display and can be read from both left and right.

If you are unable to view the video, please visit our YouTube channel.

Second to the right, and straight on till morning! Highlights from the Peter Pan Collection

The first performance of Peter Pan by Scottish writer, James Matthew Barrie, took place on 27 December 1904 at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London and was a huge success. In 1911, the novel version was published under the title Peter and Wendy and it became an instant bestseller.

In April 1929, JM Barrie gave all his rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital (the Hospital for Sick Children as it was then) which meant that whenever the play was staged or books were published, the hospital would receive royalties. Though childless himself, Barrie loved children and had long been a supporter of the hospital. His exceptional gift was a natural expression of that support. As Barrie himself said "at one time Peter Pan was an invalid in the Hospital for Sick Children, and it was he who put me up to the little thing I did for the hospital."

For over 80 years, the story of the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, his adventures in Neverland with Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys, and his battle against his arch-enemy Captain Hook is still enchanting children and adults alike, and is continuing to help towards making the hospital the incredible centre of hope it is today.

The artwork shown in this exhibition was selected from the hospital’s Peter Pan collection of original editions of the novel, theatre posters and other memorabilia, highlighting the stunning - and sometimes quirky - imagery that Peter Pan has inspired among different artists over more than a century.

If you are unable to view the slideshow, please visit our Flickr gallery.

GO Create! and Amnesty International - We Are All Born Free

GO Create! was delighted to work in partnership with Amnesty International, a tireless campaigner for childrens' rights worldwide. During summer 2012 we exhibited a series of illustrations depicting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights commissioned by Amnesty and along side this exhibition we ran a series of art workshops exploring the theme of our human rights. Workshops were led by Dan Jones from Amnesty along with some very special guest illustrators including Jane Ray and Axel Scheffler.

If you are unable to view the video, please visit our YouTube channel.

The illustrations are taken from the award-winning book We Are All Born Free: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures, published by Frances Lincoln and Amnesty International UK. The book is now available in 35 languages across the globe and we are enormously grateful to all the illustrators who contributed.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) looks after all of us, no matter who we are or where we live. It was signed more than 60 years ago, in December 1948. Every child and every grown-up in the world has human rights. We are all born free and equal. Our rights are part of what makes us human.

Bob Graham, illustrator of Article 12, said: "Through books, our children can grow and imagine what it might be like to be in someone else’s shoes. This is surely where empathy starts. And with empathy and understanding comes tolerance, and who knows? Then they may have a world with some of the fear taken out of it."

For more information about Amnesty International please visit www.amnesty.org.uk. 

Polly Braden - A day in the life of staff

In response to the hospital's redevelopment programme, GO Create! has undertaken three major photography commissions to document the changing face of GOSH, the buildings and people (staff and patients). 

Polly Braden was the second photographer to be commissioned, following staff in both clinical and non-clinical roles as they went about their daily routine between October 2010 and April 2011. 

A final selection of her photographs were exhibited between March and April 2012 in the new exhibition space in the Morgan Stanley Clinical Building, part of the Mittal Children's Medical Centre. An accompanying book has also been published as part of her commission. 

If you are unable to view the slideshow, please visit our Flickr gallery.

Kevin Nicols - Phase 2A demolitions

Kevin Nicols photographed the removal of the Nurses Home Annex, Southwood (A Wing), Barrie Wing and the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH)/Cardiac Wing Link Bridge. These buildings were demolished to clear the site for the new Morgan Stanley Clinical Building.

Over nine months, Kevin captured the colour and vibrancy of the site’s development and the individuals working on the site, resulting in a series of images that chart the beginning of phase two of the redevelopment programme.