The commissioning of a permanent artwork by NHS Richmond for the Whitton Health and Social Care Centre reflects an enlightened recognition of the positive effect of the arts in healthcare. Artist Henna Nadeem was selected for the commission in 2010 by a panel that included NHS staff, community representatives, and the Centre’s architects Penoyre & Prasad, advised by curators Modus Operandi, who have managed the commission from inception to completion.
Drop is a distinctive design of coloured ‘petals’ filling the large expanses of glazing at the building’s entrance. Her artwork creates a highly recognisable signature for the new Centre, which Nadeem hopes will engage people’s interest and imaginations for many years.
Nadeem’s practice often has an emphasis on pattern and landscape, and her approach to this project began with research to identify subject matter that had particular significance to local residents and those who would be using the new Centre. Through meetings with local community groups Nadeem discovered that Crane Valley Park - a local area of natural beauty - was an environment in which local people felt a sense of physical and mental well-being.
A photograph of the Park’s wildflower meadow, filled with colourful native and non-native plants, became the imagery from which Nadeem developed her distinctive, vibrantly coloured motif, which has been permanently printed onto the Centre’s glazing. The ‘healing’ properties of the meadow she has created is more than an acknowledgement of the long-recognized positive benefits of colour on patients, but is also a reference to the wildflower species within Crane Valley Park meadow, nearly all of which have been used in natural herbal remedies.
The commissioning of a permanent artwork by NHS Richmond for the Whitton Health and Social Care Centre was supported by a grant from the Charitable Fund.
