BUKA look at arts and health look at Aberdeen and Bulawayo
In the Zimbabwean language Ndebele, buka means ‘look at’. It is an apt name for a collective born out of an arts-in-health project between twin cities Aberdeen and Bulawayo which sought to inspire artists and medical practitioners to come together to look at maternal health environments as spaces in need of attention, care and creative enhancement. Funded by Aberdeen City Council, the project involved a knowledge exchange of the ways art can enhance and elevate the hospital as a space, considering how it had been achieved in Aberdeen and how it might differ in Bulawayo. At its core, the project aimed to advocate the use of art and design: - as a way to create a welcoming, cared for environment which expresses to the patient that they will also be cared for - as tools to enhance the ‘healing environment’ for staff by lowering stress and bringing co-workers together - as a creative solution for areas of neglect or disrepair This booklet outlines the background of the project and the stages that were taken throughout, and showcases the artwork and creative engagements achieved by the artists involved.
In 2015, Immpact, a global maternal health research initiative based at the University of Aberdeen, commissioned Aberdeen-based writer Shane Strachan to write a short play which highlighted transport issues for pregnant women seeking medical attention in low to medium income countries. The play, ‘A Mother’s Journey’, was performed to a ‘soldout’ audience at the 2015 May Festival in Aberdeen and attended by two guests from Bulawayo: Dr Davidzoyashe Makosa, an obstetrician at Lady Rodwell Maternity, United Bulawayo Hospitals, and Mrs Sikhangezile Moyo, a matron at at Mpilo Maternity Hospital. Evie: I just wish you had been here sooner. It’s been over half a day… Are you scared? Don’t be scared. Just come and see your mummy. I’ll look after you. I promise. It’s okay. Don’t fight it. Come see me. Since starring in the play, Vicky Parker (above) undertook a 6-week placement at United Bulawayo Hospitals as part of her Medicine degree at the University of Aberdeen. Read her blog at www.maternalhealthwordpress.wordpress.com
During a preview performance at The Suttie Arts Space (above) at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Dr Makosa remarked how impressed she was by the presence of an art gallery within a hospital environment. She explained how her maternity hospital had recently had some renovations, and as part of that, she’d convinced her staff to introduce a different colour scheme and some artwork to their labour wards. On an exchange visit in September 2015, Shane visited Bulawayo with Immpact’s Business Developer Shelagh Barr to research further potential arts and health crossover projects. During this time, they witnessed the positive difference that Dr Makosa had started to make in enhancing the maternal health environments at Lady Rodwell. They felt that a project which could bring arts and health partners from Aberdeen to Bulawayo would be the logical next step.
In November 2016, Shane returned to Bulawayo with Sue Fairburn and Sally Thomson. Sue is a Lecturer and Researcher in Design Futures at Gray’s School of Art with a background in design and health. Prior to joining Gray’s, she worked in Knowledge Management with Immpact, looking at how to ensure their extensive evidence in global maternal health research was taken up through traditional science and health routes, as well as through advocacy and cultural engagement. Sally is the Director of Grampian Hospital Arts Trust (GHAT). The trust was initiated in 1985 by consultant doctors in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and has become a national leader in arts and health programmes. From the early years of forming a collection of artwork (which now consists of 4300 works) to hang in hospital spaces of the North East, GHAT has developed new strands of work. This includes public art and design in new buildings, artists working with patients in clinical units, and The Suttie Arts Space, the only purpose built art gallery within a healthcare setting in the UK.
The team’s key partnership on this return visit was with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, with their primary contact being Cliford Zulu, the gallery’s Assistant Curator and Outreach Co-ordinator. The gallery has been operating in the city centre since 1980 in Douslin House (above), originally built in 1900.
Across five days in November 2016, the project involved the following stages: scanning of the maternal health environments; dialogues with potential partners (medical and creative); the planning and delivery of creative engagement and enhancement of the hospital environments, and a reflection and review of the week with partners discussing next steps.
On the mornings of the first two days, the team visited both United Bulawayo and Mpilo maternity hospitals. They met with members of staff to undergo a process of scanning the environment and considering how staff and patients currently used and viewed the hospital as a space: where did patients congregate and spend lengthy periods of time? Were there any areas in need of renovation or repair? In what ways could art be used as a tool to bring staff and/or patients together in the hospital space? It was also an opportunity to consider the staff and patients’ opinions on art in general, and on the potential applications of art and design in the hospital space; this led to discussions in some wards about what enhancements had already been made such as a set of photographs on display in the long-stay wards for new mothers which had been seen as a positive change in a space where patients could be in the hospital for months.
In the afternoons, the team met with local artists to discuss their thoughts on an arts and health project, exploring the potential benefits for both the hospitals, staff, community and the artists involved. In all cases, this was not something that the artists had ever contemplated before. The majority of the artists agreed that enhancing and engaging with a hospital space through their creative practice was something they would like to try.
During these first days, the team also visited the Department of Applied Art and Design at the Bulawayo Polytechnic and the Mzilikazi Art and Craft Centre – both key to developing local creative education – and considered what links could be made between these institutions and the hospitals.
In advance of the creative enhancements, materials from local art shops were bought and a budget put in place to pay the artists. Through discussion, it was also decided that the project and resulting creative collective would be referred to as #buka. This would engage people in-person and online in considering how they view health environments and to express the aim of the project succinctly in relation to the two hospitals: #BukaMpilo (in Ndebele, impilo means ‘life’) and #BukaCentral (United Bulawayo Hospitals).
At the end of the week, the team facilitated creative demonstrations in the publicgathering areas of the maternity hospitals with a group of six Bulawayo-based artists: Owen Maseko, George Masarira, Talent Kapadza, Charles Bhebe, Danisile Ncube and Omega Sibanda. This involved the artists creating new paintings and chalk drawings in the hospital waiting areas over the course of two hours, as well as inviting staff and patients to have a go at creating their own work with clay tiles and coloured vinyl cuttings. At UBH, staff expressed concerns that the location and appearance of their Youth Friendly Unit was discouraging young people from visiting them for sexual health advice and counselling services. In order to counteract this, all of the artists worked together with staff to create a colourful artwork on the side of one of the cabins using vinyl cut-outs. The staff held onto the remaining vinyl for youth users of the service to cut out their own shape and add it to the artwork so that it continues to grow over time in an act of positive participatory graffiti.
Since the enhancements took place, the artists have formed an art-inhealth collective and are considering next steps for applying for funding. They are also arranging for the art works to be framed and displayed permanently in the hospital spaces. In Summer 2017, Cliford Zulu will visit Aberdeen to engage with cultural partners in the city and to develop the #buka project further. It is hoped that the project will continue by securing funding for an exchange of emerging artists and hospital technicians between both cities, and the linking of local art and design institutions in Bulawayo with the hospitals as a means of using design to repair and address areas of need.
Relevant links: www.nationalgallerybyo.com www.ghat-art.org.uk
www.graysschoolaberdeen.com www.abdn.ac.uk/iahs/research/immpact
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/twinning
www.shanestrachan.com/blog
Artwork by Charles Bhebe
Mpilo Legs wide and shoulders slouched, mother performs her slow dance with feet that swell like the beating sun above us. Her old shoes scuff across the dry orange dust by the side of the road where the Jacaranda trees give no shelter. Sister died before mother left her bed. Brother was born in the bush. But mother has made it this far this time, has waddled up towards the cool, clean entrance of the hospital with a bag of cash and sundries on her back. She hands over the last of her dollars to the man at reception and the Sisters soon carry her through this gallery of life to the Labour Ward where I begin my dance, begin to arrive.
My Body My body is a tree that sprouts that breaths. My body is a tree that grows that seeds. My body is a tree that flowers that feeds. My body is a tree that weeps that bleeds. My body is a tree that lives on when it leaves.
Artworks by Danisile Ncube
Artwork by Owen Maseko The King of Mzilikazi Watch me fly! The rubber tyre moves in ways it never dreamt it could. Branches creak overhead and the world spins around me. Down below on the old dry earth, my audience cheer as I cool the warm air with my brand new wings. I was born for this! Artworks opposite (left to right, top to bottom): Talent Kapadza, George Masarira, Omega Sibanda, Charles Bhebe,Talent Kapaza, George Masarira.