Top artist pays tribute to NHS
BUTTERFLY RAINBOW WILL GO ON DISPLAY ON THE GLENFIELD HOSPITAL SITE
AN NHS trust has been given an artwork by Damien Hirst.
The internationally acclaimed artist produced a rendition of the NHS rainbow to pay tribute to the “wonderful work” doctors, nurses and other staff are doing during the pandemic.
The piece is made up of bands of coloured butterfly wings – one of the 55-year-old’s signature motifs.
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust is the only one in the East Midlands, and one of two mental health trusts in the country, to receive one of the Butterfly Rainbow prints, which the artist created in May to show support for the NHS.
Hirst said: “I wanted to do something to pay tribute to the wonderful work NHS staff are doing in hospitals around the country.
“The rainbow is a sign of hope and I think it is brilliant that parents and children are creating their own version and putting them up in the windows of their homes.”
All profits from sales of the limited-edition artwork – a total of £1,508,172 – were donated to NHS Charities Together.
Seventy of the prints were sent to NHS trusts.
Angela Hillery, chief executive of the trust, and chairman Cathy Ellis were among the first people to get a preview of the work when it was delivered to the Bradgate Mental Health Unit, on the Glenfield Hospital site.
Cathy said: “It is such a poignant tribute to the work of our teams during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Angela said: “Thank you – it’s stunning and means so much to us.”
The artwork was gifted with the stipulation it is displayed for members of the public to enjoy. It will be mounted permanently in the Bradgate’s reception area.
The mental health unit has a tradition of weaving art into its care for patients.
The trust employs two arts in mental health co-ordinators, who work with inpatients and service users to support recovery through painting, drawing, poetry, prose and music. The work produced features in regular arts exhibitions on the site. Bradgate unit team member Tim Sayers said: “It is a great privilege that the trust has been donated this artwork by Damien Hirst. “It is wonderful he has taken the time to make this gesture to raise funds for the NHS and to pay tribute to the hard work and endurance of NHS workers through these incredibly difficult times.”