The art exhibition, Celebrating the Future – Remembering the Past, will open at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) on Monday, 24 October 2016.
Curated by Lisa Campbell-Smith, the exhibition will showcase commissioned and gifted works, and works by patients from B-Block, which is slated for demolition in the coming months.
Deputy Project Director for the RHH Redevelopment said that preparation works were underway for the construction of a new ten-storey health facility known as K-Block.
“With around 250 inpatient beds and seven new operating and procedure rooms, K-Block will be reason to celebrate,” Ms Carr said.
“Before we decommission the old B-Block and build on the site, it’s important to pause and reflect on the role B-Block has played in the hospital and the community.”
Ms Carr said that hospitals treat and employ thousands of people every year.
“This exhibition is a small acknowledgement of the role that B-Block has played in the lives of many people through treatment and care in wards such as oncology, medicine, surgery and mental health,” Ms Carr said.
“It recognises it has been an important health facility for the community and a place of work for many staff, some for decades.”
Ms Carr said that the RHH Redevelopment was pleased to be able to support the art exhibition taken from works on display in various wards of B-Block including those by Patrick Hall, patients of the Clozapine clinic, Rob Blakers and photography from the Beatties Studio.
“Artwork in hospitals plays an important role in softening the clinical space, helping make it more comfortable for patients and visitors,” Ms Carr said.
“This is an opportune time to thank members of the community who have donated works over the years, of which a modest selection will be on display.”
Ms Carr said that prints, drawings, mosaic and more works were also produced by patients of the Clozapine clinic art group and that a selection of these would also be on display.
The exhibition will be on display on levels one and two, in the link between A and B-Blocks from Monday, 24 October 2016 until 7 November 2016, 9 am – 5 pm.
24 Oct 2016