ExtraOrdinary, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, December 2023 - February 2024

ExtraOrdinary art exhibition forming part of the Art Program at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick.

The Art Program, managed by the Sydney Chidren’s Hospital Foundation (SCHF), is an art in health service which uses the visual arts - in all its forms - to help improve the lives of patients, families, carers and staff. Working in partnership with the health and the arts sectors, the Art Program provides accessible and meaningful opportunities for artistic expression that aid patient’s physical, mental and emotional recovery. For some children, art offers a refuge from the intense emotions associated with illness, giving them a way to express their feelings and allowing them respite from what they are going through. It also helps in reducing their anxiety and isolation, perception of pain and improving overall mental health. The Art Program employs the use of exhibitions, workshops, and a permanent collection of diverse artworks to create a vibrant, reassuring and colourful place of healing and culture, where children and young adults feel safe and happy.

An extract from the ExtraOrdinary’s Artist Statement:

“The act of painting is one of mindfulness. It requires you to be present in the moment and distracts from stress and worry. Looking at the familiar for long periods, ordinary things become strange and interesting…..

The subjects in these paintings are taken from the everyday. Familiar vistas and household objects and childhood “stuff” in all its colourful joy, fun and silliness -  displaying innocence on one hand but on the other the inherent consumerism of our times. 

By placing the everyday centre stage in a colourful celebratory way I hope that these works provide some momentary relief for the hospital viewer as the work of others has done for me.”