Birds of the medway estuary
Gift of life Wall artwork for medway maritime hospital
This spectacular artwork, dedicated to all those who have selflessly become organ donors, is four floors high and covers the wall of the hospitals’ main atrium. It features over 120 birds that inhabit the Medway Estuary each one uniquely cut out in a variety of aged metal finishes.
Watch the video extract below from BBC South East coverage of the official opening of Medway Hospital organ donation memorial artwork.
The various species of birds group and fly together to ultimately form a heart shape around the wording the Gift of Life, before soaring up into the highest parts of the wall representing freedom and new life. Natural and artificial light changes throughout the day, lighting up various birds so that their steely feathers glint and shine.
Dr Paul Hayden, Clinical Lead for Organ Donation and Dr Gillian Fargher, Chair of the Organ and Tissue Donation Committee and also Regional Chair. Pictured having just installed the first 40 name blocks on one of four new Hero Boards that in time will include over 400 donor names. The Hero Boards were added to the artwork in late May 2021.
Feedback
"We have always been strong advocates of organ donation at Medway and wanted to commission a large piece of artwork to celebrate the selflessness of those who have donated organs and the courage of their families. We were fortunate to have the support of the Trust's CEO and Chairman to redecorate our large atrium area within the hospital and were recommended Hospital Art Studio following other successful installations elsewhere in the UK.
From initial concept design to final installation, we were extremely impressed with the professionalism of Tony and Karen and the proof of the pudding has been the fantastic mural that we now have in our hospital atrium.
Feedback from visitors, patients, and staff has been overwhelmingly positive with many people commenting on its beauty whilst mentioning friends and family who have received organ transplants or who have donated organs. The artwork stimulates discussion about organ donation and hopefully this will continue to increase the number of visitors who join the organ donor register.
We intend to time our official unveiling of the artwork to coincide with national organ donation week in September and the Trust is now re-configuring the atrium area to benefit from a spacious seating area for visitors to enjoy the artwork."
Dr Paul Hayden, Clinical Director for Critical Care & Clinical Lead for Organ Donation, Medway NHS Foundation Trust
