Aesthetics for Visual Arts in Hospitals

Abstract

The impetus for Aesthetics for Art in Hospitals emerged from my first waiting experiences in hospitals whilst being well, from my first pregnancy check ups ten years ago, accompanying my children to our doctor’s surgery, and later, sitting with my mother in palliative care; I was acutely aware of the lack of thought and organisation behind the display of visual imagery and signage in hospital waiting rooms. As an artist, I wondered who decides what images will be displayed in waiting areas of health clinics and hospitals. This idea gradually developed from 2005 when I attended the Arts Health and Humanities Conference in Newcastle, and realised that patient’s perspectives regarding aesthetics appeared to be overlooked. It was from this point that this inquiry became a research project that led me to the University of Sydney and in particular to The Sydney College of the Arts and the Medical Humanities Unit. This thesis is the outcome of this original inquiry and examines the questions, how can visual arts be received in hospitals? and how does western society represent illness and death? These questions explores how patients, their family members, and carers respond to art in hospitals, while acknowledging their discomfort experienced in hospital settings. This inquiry took the form of a comparative case study between Balmain and Wyong Hospitals, NSW, Australia. The aim of the study was to produce a reflective and empathetic response to elderly patients in waiting rooms as a mode to investigate the potential of evidence based art for hospitals. The intention was to produce a series of digital photographs that reflected the art preference of elderly patients. The outcomes of the study uncovered the patients waiting experience and recorded their levels of discomfort. It established the potential and significance of landscape photography in hospital waiting rooms to create a less threatening environment. The participants selected landscapes as their preferred subject matter for visual arts in hospitals. The study contributes to Australian arts health research by comparing Australian arts health projects to international examples. These comparisons indicate that further research is required to comprehensively understand the hospital waiting experience of Australian patients, and their family members in order to create visual arts that they can appreciate and respond to.