The Royal London Hospital’s neurosciences unit has unveiled a transformed day room.
The initiative was a collaborative effort between Vital Arts, Headway East London, and artist Billy Mann.
The artwork aims to provide a supportive space for patients as they adjust to life following a traumatic brain injury.
Colour plays a significant role throughout the project, with blues symbolising sadness and reflection, greens representing balance and stability, and warmer tones bringing humour, vibrancy, and resilience.
Molly Hilling, lead nurse for acute brain injury at The Royal London, said: “For our patients, days in the hospital can be boring, and we keep telling them to keep busy.
“This project helped with just that and patients absolutely loved it – I had a 40-year old who had never picked up a paint brush before, painting for hours.
“It also breaks the mould that physiotherapy is the only treatment for a brain injury.”
Artwork by Billy Mann lines the corridors.
Billy is a long-standing member of Headway East London, a charity supporting people living with brain injury.
His stitched pieces feature small, labelled leaves and map fragments, recurring motifs in his work since his own brain injury.
My New Brain is a stitch work, an imagined picture of his “new” brain, filled with random shapes and colours.
In the day rooms, interactive cupboards encourage patients and visitors to continue creating.
Billy said: “This project has been a gift, we talked about it for such a long time but it was something I just needed to get done.
“To have everyone together – staff and patients – enjoying themselves with art, was great.
“The result has been better than I thought it ever would be.”
Sarah Lantsbury, chief executive for Headway East London, said Billy’s art brought “a touch of the Headway magic onto the ward”.
“We hope this project offers inspiration for patients beginning their rehabilitation.”
Fiona Miller Smith, Barts Charity’s chief executive, added: “Barts Charity are proud to support projects that create inviting and welcoming spaces for our diverse population across Barts Health hospitals.
“Thanks to the incredible work of artist Billy Mann, in collaboration with staff and patients on the neurotrauma wards, these two beautifully renovated day rooms will support patients who have undergone life changing injuries and trauma.
“They will provide a safe space for patients to begin the process of rehabilitation.”
