BJM

HEALTHCARE AND ART

Moving Window

Collaboration with Nick Shekerian, Giffen Clark Ott, Valerie Martinez, Bethany Hobbs, Mitch Berg and Artful Life. Support and funding from Artists at Work: Borderlands and The Fulcrum Fund through 516 Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation.

Designed for hospitals and inspired by the artist’s own experiences of illness, Moving Window offers a comforting aesthetic in otherwise sterile spaces and brings healthcare into conversations of contemporary art.

Stained Glass Wheelchair is another public art design for healthcare sites.

In 2010, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I woke one morning with half of my body weakened and my right hand paralyzed. I went to the ER and, after a CT scan, was admitted into the hospital. From my bed, my direct line of vision surveyed the word “DANGER” over a discarded needle bin. That warning sign, along with a mess of wires and tubes glowing unnaturally under the too-bright fluorescent lighting provided the visual background during my stay. I turned my body towards the window, it was the only place I could look that felt OK. Once during my first tests for MS I was alone in a room awaiting an MRI with a wall sized artwork. I was stunned and inspired by the presence of it and it has also played a part in my inquiry into the role of atmosphere and aesthetics in healthcare.

I have been healthy and strong since 2012 and have committed to creating public art for contemplation and sanctuary. My mother talked me through her death when I was 10, that and losing my father and sister and loved ones has had a big effect on my creative practice. Having spent so much time in hospitals and healthcare sites caring for others, receiving treatment, working in hospice, and now with my art, I believe there is nowhere more deserving of art that inspires. I conceive Moving Window as the first of many mobile artworks that live and move in hospitals and art spaces.

As a recent recipient of Artists at Work: Borderlands, I was supported for a year-long residency to build connections between healthcare and art. I continue to move towards creating relationships, programs, opportunities and events that bridge this gap.

My team and I are building a door-sized panel of metal-framed colored acrylic, fabricated to be safe, functional, and mobile. Mounted atop wheels, Moving Window can be rolled easily from a waiting area, to a procedure room, to a bedside. In these various locations, patients, visitors, and care providers will experience the transformation of atmosphere through color and light. In many cultures, stained glass is synonymous with sacred space. Viewed over time, light connects us to the rhythms of day and night; it brings the outside in. Moving Window brings a comforting and inspiring aesthetic into spaces of care.

With Moving Window, I hope to change the idea of what a hospital can be and redefine care as something more than drugs, procedures and surgery. I know that art and aesthetics can play an important role in promoting health and wellbeing holistically. I hope that this artwork is the first of many works that move into healthcare related sites. I also plan to show this work in art and untraditional creative spaces to bring healthcare into dialogue with contemporary art. 

See Palm Desert Window and Morning Glory for related work mediums.

Contact BJM to learn how to support the project. Please share with individuals or healthcare related sites that may be interested in hosting or bringing this work to life. Thank you.

More in Healthcare and Art:

Have you heard of this other BJ Miller? He is a physician, writer and public speaker. Here’s a link to his Ted Talk. He is a big inspiration, friend, collaborator and he’s helping me to realize Moving Window along with other healthcare and public art projects.