To Show Appreciation for Healthcare Workers, Elizabeth Peyton, Amy Sillman, and Other Artists Designed Encouraging Posters for US Hospitals
With more than 84,000 documented
cases of COVID-19, New York has the most known infections of any US
state by a large margin.
In a gesture of solidarity with
the city’s overworked and undersupplied healthcare workers—the
soldiers in this battle—a group of more than 85 artists have teamed
up to make posters of gratitude and encouragement to appear in
Intensive Care Units in New York hospitals.
The project was started by
Elizabeth Jaeger, a Brooklyn-based sculptor, and Cady Chaplin, a
nurse at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital. Three weeks ago, the
night before Chaplin was set to return to her job in the ICU after
taking a vacation for her 30th birthday, she told Jaeger about
entering such a frightening situation.
“We started texting about how it
was all feeling, and Cady said, ‘If any artists are bored and want
to make encouraging posters, I will hang them in our break room,’”
Jaeger recalled last month in Vogue. “‘We can use all the help we can get, and I
can make a guerrilla gallery of support from the
community.’”
Courtesy of Harriet Salmon.
Jaeger loved the idea, so she
sent out an email to her artist friends with a request for posters.
The responses came flooding in. Chaplin and Jaeger then printed the
posters and hung them up in the ICU break room.
“Nurses have been saying that it’s really nice to be able to
take a moment and look at something beautiful,” Chaplin tells
Artnet News. “Some have said that it’s calming and others have said
that the colors really cheer them up. It’s nice to hear people talk
about their favorite posters or just hear their excitement when I
bring new work.”
Since then, the number of
posters has grown dramatically, with artists like Amy Sillman,
Camille Henrot, Elizabeth Peyton, and dozens of others
contributing. They range from simple doodles to elaborate graphic
designs, from watercolors and photographs to collages and
illustrations. Most contain phrases of support or appreciation.
“Thank you for literally saving the world,” reads one. “U have the
power!!! We love you. Thank you,” reads another.
After seeing the enthusiastic
response, Jaeger set up a public Google Drive
with all the posters, making them freely available for download.
Since then, other hospitals around the country have put them in
their own facilities, she says.
“Personally, I’m most encouraged by the fact that even though
this virus has been a time of intense isolation, people are
thinking of us and are making it known,” adds Chaplin.
See more of the posters below.
Courtesy of Lydia McCarthy.
Courtesy of Amy Sillman.
Courtesy of Birgit Rathsmann.
Courtesy of Elizabeth Peyton.
Courtesy of Jean Jullien.
Courtesy of Sarah Lowe.
Courtesy of Roberta Klug.
Courtesy of Grace Miceli.
Courtesy of Erica Baum.
The post To Show Appreciation for Healthcare Workers,
Elizabeth Peyton, Amy Sillman, and Other Artists Designed
Encouraging Posters for US Hospitals appeared first on artnet
News.
Read more https://news.artnet.com/art-world/artist-posters-hospitals-1830036
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