I use painting as a way to get to know a particular kind of workforce and environment
and use this very slow technology of observational painting to sit with a variety of different
populations that maybe wouldn't get represented otherwise. I'm in Los Angeles right now and
this work is a commemoration that I've been doing towards healthcare workers in Liverpool
When I paint these small passages of people's skin, it's kind of like a reflective space where
I have the memory of the conversations we had. I think about what they might be going through, how
they must be on the front lines and how they must be quite afraid. A lot of them are facing patients
with Covid in their daily life. I'm thinking about them and how they must need renewal
In some ways painting is about the individuals and their faces
but the formal elements of the work are kind of a fleshing out of their stories
From a very little girl I'd always wanted to be a nurse
I don't care who you are. Whether you're the Prime Minister or somebody that lives on the streets
from me you'll get exactly the same level of care and I think that's really, really important
Nursing runs in my family. My mum is a nurse and both my sisters
are student nurses and I'm also a student. So I guess it's being handed down to us
For me it's about trying to make a difference. You get a patient who's nervous,
you've got to win them over. If you get a child who's got a Liverpool shirt on you can talk
about Liverpool. If you've got an Everton shirt on, oh, we'll get you fixed mate. Don't worry
As one of the consultants I have to be responsible for
patients that come through our department. Alder Hey Children's Hospital is one of the
largest children's hospitals in europe and as an emergency department one of the busiest
When we put out the open call in Liverpool to a few different hospitals we got a very
nice response and a few of them I'm painting individually but I decided to keep this as a team
I think they've tried to incorporate different departments of the hospital So
you've got myself as a porter, you've got nurses, health cares, doctors, housekeeper, consultants
Even though it's a painting of a large group of people that are assembled I'm interested in
those moments where there are individuals within that larger group as well I was just interested
in thinking about how to commemorate hospital workers that were working such long hours and
at the beginning of the pandemic people were going outside and clapping for care workers.
We've all been called heroes. We're not heroes. We're just doing our job. That's the job we're in.
It's the job we've always been in. We all opted in to help out during the pandemic
We saw our mum who's always this caring person who didn't even think about herself and we thought
'what's stopping us from helping out?' Essentially this is why we went into nursing. To help people
What better way than to start with Covid? When the outbreak first happened one of my daughters had
to shield. One of my other daughters is a nurse on the front line. She actually got coronavirus
So there was a period of time where it was like pick a child
My twin sister was assigned to a Covid-19 ward. There was always a constant fear of
is she going to get it? Because she's working so close to Covid-19 patients
You constantly worry but also think this is what essentially nursing is and this is
what you're called to do. So you just do it
When you see people dying every day, when you know your mortuary is full to capacity
and you can't fit any more in, it's a very stark reality
For the first time in my life, I had a four-month period of not being able to
touch anybody. I used to lie on the slate tiles in my kitchen, on the laminate floor in my corridor
and on different fabrics just to simulate a different sort of sensation on my skin
We were asked to do a picture by Aliza that reflected our role
Luckily enough my son's girlfriend, she's an artist so she drew my picture for me
Every single one has got a story. Not always the nicest stories
Kevin shared a particularly poignant story
Not only does he move children from one part of the hospital to another
He's the one that kind of holds children's hands sometimes to take them from one side to the other
and cracks jokes with them. But he also takes whoever passes away to the morgue
And he told me that he raises a glass for them when he gets home
It's something I started a long time ago
I raise a glass of whiskey for everyone I take, in memory of that person, that child
I was the last person if you like that had anything to do with them
Taking them on final journey as I always think of it. When you're home and you have time to think
that's the difficult part. When I first started doing the job, one of the first ones that passed
was the same age as my son and that really hit home. That was that was really difficult
Sometimes you get to know the patient that you've taken. You get to know the parents and
you know, that that's hard then. But you know life's not always fair
They've been so altruistic during the whole pandemic but they also obviously need
support themselves. So this whole group got together and they would tell stories
Team Time is an online storytelling initiative
for staff to talk about the social and emotional impact of their work. Being able to remove that
armor that we put on every day when we go to work and expose our emotional wounds
I think it was a very exemplary model of how people kind of come together and support each
other in these difficult times. Especially when they are selfless healthcare workers
I've been painting lots of individual portraits. So for example Jessica, who's a student nurse and then
a critical care nurse, Shari who just took a break by the water
Ryan who during the pandemic had a newborn
So he wanted to be painted with his little child in their allotment garden
The watercolors are a way of giving tribute to various different individuals
that have been really selfless in the way they've taken care of people during the whole pandemic
And Steve, he's a doctor who makes awards for children that come to his practice and he set up
this special area in his home for his yoga studio and he has this peacock tattoo and then he had
this amazing Victorian wallpaper with peacocks. But just these moments of how the healthcare workers
that are working really long shifts find time for themselves
Like Alan as well, who very sadly lost his mother during the pandemic
and he's holding an amulet of hers
I was thinking of a way of sending something to
each of the healthcare workers I painted. So I made these watercolors of flowers
that I would find on my walks in Southern California, as a way of sending them a bouquet
My colleague showed me a quote from Picasso which talks about art being like a way to shrug dust
off our lives. I think that's a really good way of describing how art can be therapeutic
Art I think can be a way of therapy for people. I've seen that firsthand
People really enjoy being painted, because people used to be depicted in oil paintings when they
were monarchs or something you know. Portraits are for wealthy people. Portraits are commissioned
Portraits are those with status and stature but this is something very different.
We are being immortalised in a form of art
We are being exposed to the public in a way that perhaps the public are not used to
I'm just putting the last touches on the painting. Which is the label for this woman Rose
Who's the play specialist at Alder Hey. She told me that she loves blowing bubbles for kids
Each of these people have a very tough job with a lot of responsibility but
they try to make it the most optimistic environment for the patients that they treat
and I tried to make a combination of the kind of emotions and affect that I felt from the people
after talking to them and the difficulty of the situation they're dealing with
It was so satisfying just to show them the finished painting and see their impressions
by a Zoom again. I was a little nervous that they would think it was too bright
I used really bright colours to kind of show the hopeful culture that they engage in and they really loved it
They said it was very uplifting. So, phew!
Wow! That looks amazing, thank you. It's brilliant
That is incredible. I love my colour. I decided not to put all of the pattern Jo of your shirt. Just a little bit
I love it. Really, a warm Liverpool welcome awaits you. Really
There you are. Let me show you closer up. Here
I can't believe that's me. That's so insane
It's so good to see you again. It's been a good three or four months since we last spoke
Let me show you this watercolor I did of you
I like this. My mother always used to sit like this
Sadly she's passed on now but a lot of the photographs we've got of her all like this
So yeah, it's quite poignant
It's like various different moments of time that are brought together in a portrait
Never thought I'd be hanging on a wall in the Tate gallery. So that's a privilege really
You know to be a painting on a wall is longevity
I'm so honored that Aliza has painted us
because we have to bring to the public conversation what it has been like
working through this pandemic
I think there's a little bit more appreciation as to what we do
and what our job entails. So the perception has very much changed
Hopefully at the end of the exhibit I'll be able to actually travel and meet them in person and see the hospital that I painted
I can't wait to actually somehow be face to face with them in the end
I'm very excited for this exhibition to be present soon in December
so that they can go and find renewal when they come and see the paintings