An interior mural for the cardiovascular research unit, Bristol Royal Hospital.
Commissioned by the Arts & Culture team at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, this mural is painted on the key wall of a break-out space inside the cardiovascular research unit at Bristol Royal Hospital.
Research students and staff took part in a workshop with poet Beth Calverley resulting in a poem titled ‘Fluorescence’. This poem went on to inspire the artwork design, which centres on the theme of a team finding insights and looking for answers.
The artwork depicts a group sailing forward, their kayak led by a searching light and topped with a heart on a flag. Around them are clouds containing some of the cell types the researchers work on.
I acheived the textured cell (including ‘foam cells’) motifs by using hand-cut foam stamps. You can watch a video of the stamping process here.
“It was a delight to work with Dave, who held the words of staff co-creators up to the light so carefully & honoured their contributions with his responsive artwork.
The poetry & collage workshop was also a joy, and (despite some staff members saying at the start that they didn’t think they were creative) everyone shared such insightful images & words.
The experience highlighted yet again how creative we all are in our own ways, including scientists & researchers.”
Fluorescence
Looking through a microscope is like looking
past the one lit-up spiderweb to spot
loads more, fluorescent as tissues.
We find insights that can’t be seen with eyes
until we look again, closer, like climbing a hill
to catch the clouds. There is beauty
in red blood cells, smooth muscle cells,
a histological snap of an atherosclerotic plaque.
Foam cells are lakes from above.
Each of us is a work of art,
a different rhythm, an angiogram.
When everything gets too close,
it can help to free yourself from layers of office or lab,
to this tent lit from within, this kayak on an estuary,
the peace that is found with wilderness around.
What will you do with your time here?
How will you connect?
Look again at the city through this window,
bold and Bristolian, each bridge a bypass,
each scaffold a stent, and the Avon’s lifeblood,
arteries branching like driftwood.
Catch yourself some clouds,
those backlit x-rays of heart shapes.
We welcome each other like new ideas,
solutions in a flask. We look for answers,
ways to make things better at the cellular level.
We stand on the shoulders of giants,
blood vessels in this aorta.
We know the heart wears nothing.
One day our work may lead to a therapy
that will help people with heart disease.
We may light up people after us.