Artwork by Dominic Harris installed at West Mid

The works, from Harris’s Bloomed collection, were installed following a series of drawing-led consultation sessions in 2022/23, during which patients and staff suggested that nature-themed artwork would improve the unit by providing a connection to the outdoors.

Harris and Halcyon Gallery have kindly loaned five digital artworks from Bloomed to the charity’s art collection, and CW+ funded the preparatory works through the charity’s Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals Funding Call. Some patients spend up to eight hours a day weekly in the busy but small basement unit, and Harris’s artwork brings new colour and interest to the space.

Eamon O’Reilly, Lead Macmillan Cancer Nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘‘The Haematology/Oncology Unit is a patient’s home from home. For many, this space has the uncomfortable familiarity of an environment that comes with a life-threatening illness. While the unit is clean, functional and meets the standard of patient care, enhancements such as Dominic Harris’s artwork help to make the treatment space feel more comfortable and inviting.’’

Bloomed is Harris’s study of 20 blossoming flowers, and the hospital has acquired Camelia and Ranunculus along with Crocus, Anemone and Edelweiss from the collection. The works pay homage to classical still life painting but are subtly interactive, with small movements enlivening the flowers and causing them to flourish as observers pass by. Meticulously recreated through computer animations, each flower has a dream-like quality that appeals to people’s imaginations.

Trystan Hawkins, Director of Patient Environment at CW+, said: ‘‘We are grateful to Dominic Harris and Halcyon gallery for allowing us to install these stunning digital artworks in the Haematology/Oncology Unit. CW+ is a key player in the Arts in Health landscape and we enjoyed working with Dominic, and with patients and staff in the Haematology and Oncology Unit, to explore how the space could be improved. Together they identified that bringing nature-themed artwork into the space would improve the patient and staff experience, which is exactly what Dominic’s artwork has achieved.’’

This installation is part of the charity’s Arts in Health programme, which focuses on the link between human health and the environment, building on the robust body of evidence that outstanding design and engagement with the arts can improve physical and mental wellbeing.