Tim A Shaw
A little while ago, I was visiting a mental health hospital in the South West of England. In the corridors of the hospital headquarters, I saw several pictures of the interior of the old asylum building from more than a hundred years ago. Many terrible practices took place within the walls of asylums - things that should never have happened and should never happen again. However, at odds with these dark human stories, the photos also displayed multiple images of patients painting at easels. In the background of one picture, there was a theatre backdrop that could rival something you might see on a West End stage.
Recently, we were working at another mental health hospital on the other side of the country. We led a series of art workshops in an old hall that once hosted theatre productions; it still had a decent lighting set-up and backdrops in place (it even had a bar in the basement where staff used to socialise after work).
We have seen many examples of the arts being an integral part of day-to-day mental health hospital life in the past. Indeed, artworks created by patients are held in museums and galleries across the country. There will be an exhibition of Richard Dadd’s work at the Royal Academy this summer titled ‘Beyond Bedlam’, displaying many of the works he created while in Bethlem and Broadmoor hospitals.
In mental health hospitals over the last few decades, however, the arts have often been seen less as an essential part of our health and wellbeing and more as a ‘nice extra’- something to be included only if budgets allow or if a hospital trust has the specific desire to invest staff time and money.
Artists, regular gallery-goers, and anyone who finds joy in making things all know that these activities are good for us, perhaps even vital. Art challenges us, encourages critical thinking, and can even be…fun! It has been proven that arts engagement functions as a measurable health intervention with real benefits for our physical and mental health. In her book ‘Art Cure’, Professor Daisy Fancourt (Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London) says: If the arts were a pill, we would be taking it every single day.
But trust me, art in mental health hospitals is not always an easy sell.
I am a co-founder of Hospital Rooms, a UK charity that commissions art interventions in NHS inpatient mental health hospitals. We work in collaboration with artists, service users, and staff to transform these often inhumane spaces.
Over the past ten years, we and others have set a precedent for beautiful, challenging, and stimulating artworks that are 'clinically safe' without being 'clinical art'. Yet, it feels as hard as ever to get a foot in the door. The optics of spending time and money on creative activities and environmental transformations can feel like too high a risk for many mental health trusts.
Hospital staff are often doing unbelievably difficult and brilliant work. Given the profound understaffing and underfunding they face, it can be hard for them to take on the transformation of their environment or provide the resources needed for service users to explore their own creativity.
In many ways, this is understandable; the pressure of running a hospital is immense. But the benefits we have seen are worth far more than the cost and energy put in to a creative project. Above all, experiencing art and participating in creative problem-solving provides a way to humanise places that can feel dehumanising. It is a way to show love to people who are likely going through the hardest times of their lives.
Mental health service users, staff and carers deserve this.
Hospital Rooms is a UK charity and Winsor & Newton’s charity partner. Over the past ten years they have completed more than 30 major projects, commissioned more than 250 artists to transform clinical spaces, and have run more than 1,000 in-person art workshops in mental health units across the country
This year we’ll be raising money through the sale of Art Mail postcards. We’ve already had submissions from artists such as Giles Deacon, Mark Titchner and Susie Hamilton all of who are supporters of Hospital Rooms. You can view their work in our global gallery now and find out how you can take part below.
Welcome to Art Mail
Our world is a spectrum of stories, big and small. Whether you're a seasoned artist creating in the studio or trying watercolour for the first time from your kitchen table - we want to see the world from your point of view. It’s time to let your art travel: paint your postcard, mail it to us and be part of our ever-growing digital gallery of artist from around the globe.
Our digital gallery will feature every artwork shared with us, plus in New York and London, we’ll be curating a physical selection of entries, in a celebration of the Art Mail artist community.
After the exhibitions, postcards will be sold in support of Hospital Rooms, bringing artist-designed, therapeutic environments to mental health wards across the UK.
To take part, collect your free postcard pack with any Winsor & Newton Watercolour purchase. Available on winsornewton.com and from participating retailers.