A pop-up art gallery featuring unique artworks created by collaborations between artists and patients has been launched in Manchester.
‘Perspectives: Art, inflammation and me’ art gallery brings together artists and patients to creatively show doctors the world through the eyes of patients at the Manchester Central Conference Centre.
The gallery is displaying striking artwork from four UK artist-patient pairings as well as featuring other artwork from around the globe.
The aim of the art is to help patients to communicate to doctors their experience; giving insight into how their lives have been shaped by their conditions and explaining their feelings towards their illness.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals attending Rheumatology 2015, the leading UK congress for Rheumatologists, will be able to view paintings, sculptures and photography in the pop-up gallery built especially for the meeting. They will also hear how art can help patients express their personal feelings and experiences and compare the artist-patient collaboration with the doctor-patient consultation and how this may inform clinicians in their future interactions with patients.
Patients involved in the exhibition have inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis and Crohn’s disease.
Leading art critic Estelle Lovatt who will be launching the gallery and giving her expert view on the art said, “This unique exhibition brings together artists and patients to create bold, striking images and sculptures that tell the story of how a disease can impact a person’s life.
Ailsa Bosworth, CEO, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, said “People living with disabling long-term conditions like RA can find it very hard, and seldom get opportunity, to explain to others exactly how the disease affects them, their families and their life choices. The artworks are a refreshing approach to enable people to understand more about patients’ feelings towards their condition and its impact.
“Inflammatory diseases like RA, psoriasis and Crohn’s disease can seem like an unconnected group of conditions but from the art in the Perspectives gallery it is clear that many patients share similar feelings of isolation, of an unwelcome condition dominating their lives, of psychological burden and the negative impact on self-confidence.”
The Perspectives pop-up gallery will run from Tuesday 28 April to 30 April at the Manchester Central Conference Centre.
