Event
St. Otteran’s Psychiatric Hospital has been part of a landscape of the John’s Hill area in Waterford since 1835. Building Memories – Reflecting on St. Otteran’s Hospital is an exhibition of the work of fifteen people who have used mental health services provided by St. Otteran’s and is based on their own personal experiences and memories of the hospital. The exhibition is on view in University Hospital Waterford from 2 September to 23 October 2015.
The artworks were produced in the course of a weekly visual arts programme led by artist Jill Bouchier in the Activation Therapy Unit of St. Otteran’s Hospital as part of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust’s Iontas arts and mental health programme; a partnership with Waterford Wexford Mental Health Services.
The participants took St. Otteran’s as their inspiration and began making work by drawing the buildings and the gardens in the grounds of the hospital. Ideas grew over the weeks as the group talked and reminisced about their experiences of the place. The resulting artworks are expressive interpretations and personal reflections and give an insight into the day to day life of St. Otteran’s.
A tour of the exhibition will take place on Monday 5 October at 1.30pm starting in University Hospital Waterford foyer. The tour will be followed by the launch of the exhibition at 2pm in the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health, UHW with special guest, writer Mark Roper.
The Waterford Healing Arts Trust acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council, The National Lottery, The Ireland Funds of Ireland, Waterford Council and Waterford Wexford Mental Health Services in making the Iontas programme and this exhibition possible.
