Drawn in Residence is an evolving programme at CW+, designed to encourage drawing at the front line of care in our hospitals. We use drawing to communicate, enhance our environment and improve the wellbeing of staff, patients and visitors.
The programme started in 2019 with the year-long residency of artist Anouk Mercier, supported by the Tavolozza Foundation. It has now been expanded to provide a bridge into the creative industry for third-year and recently graduated students. Young artists are offered a drawing-based residency at one of our hospital sites, during which they learn how to adapt their practice in a hospital environment and transition into working artists.
We are always on the lookout for keen artists – if you would like to find out more about how you could be part of the programme, please contact Emily Thomas at emily.thomas@cwplus.org.uk. Â
To see portfolios and project outcomes from drawing artists who have worked with us since 2017, please visit our Drawn Collection microsite.
Emily Thomas, Arts Manager at West Middlesex University Hospital, explains how the Drawn in Residence programme opens the door to meaningful conversations, offering valuable insights into patients’ needs and experiences
Our 2023-24 programme saw a successful programme supporting students from Kingston School of Art and University of the West of England. A wide range of hospital areas were documented in their projects, some of which are outlined below.Â
Mereida Fajardo
Mereida’s project highlighted the people working behind the scenes at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, using drawing to document work that, though not directly related to medical care, forms a vital part of the day-to-day running of the hospital. The outcome of Mereida’s residency was a book called ‘Vital Organs’, which was given to the staff who were involved in the project.
Clara Von EyeÂ
Clara, a former student at University of the West of England, used drawing to document the CW Innovation programme. Recording online meetings, in-person events and innovation in practice, her work provided an accessible insight into the programme.
Marta Casagrande and Huihsuan Choi
For the first year of the Drawn Residency at our West Middlesex site, Marta and Huihsuan used their practice to deliver creative workshops to patients and staff. Combined with reportage drawing, their own reflections on the residency are documented in their outcome booklet, ‘Imaginary Landscape.’
Natalie Yu
In 2024, we welcomed Natalie, a final-year medical student from Imperial College London, to complete a Drawn Residency. She collaborated with the Arts for All Team, Treatment Centre staff and other teams to produce a range of art, including reportage drawings, graphic recordings and animatics.
In partnership with the Tavolozza Foundation, our Drawn in Residence II project documented, explored and captured the changing roles of staff during the pandemic. It focused on how the pandemic shaped new hospital environments and the role of drawing in healthcare.
This project was funded by the University of the West of England (UWE) in collaboration with artists, scientists and healthcare professionals across our hospitals, and the university’s Faculty of Health & Applied Science and Drawing Research Group.
Over a two-day period, resident students captured life at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in pen and ink. Artists Emily Thomas, Tim King and Olivier Kugler spent time on the wards, in theatres, attending clinics and shadowing staff to understand our hospital community.
Kindly supported by the Tavolozza Foundation, ‘50 Nurses’ was the result of the year-long drawing residency of artist Anouk Mercier. Â
Created in parallel with research undertaken for our Westminster Hospital 300th anniversary project, ‘50 Nurses’ addressed the lack of female representation in the charity’s historic art collection. It specifically responded to the discovery of a 1919 photograph of Westminster nurses which, despite documenting women’s contribution to hospital life, did not include any of the nurses’ names.
‘50 Nurses’ consists of 50 individually drawn portraits of every woman in the photograph. To reclaim some physical space in the hospital for key female figures, a selection of these drawings was installed in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as part of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2019.
Stay in touch
If you are happy to hear from us about news, fundraising, events, volunteering opportunities and how your donation is supporting our hospitals, please fill in your details below.
"*" indicates required fields
