The walls within the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales will be looking at little brighter thanks to local artist Persh H. Sassoon.
The second phase of the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales was opened on 15 May 2015 and some of the walls were looking a little sparse. Persh kindly offered to donate some of her pictures.
Artwork in hospitals helps to make the environment a little more pleasant and can provide a welcome distraction from pain and feeling ill.
Persh said: “I chose to donate paintings to the hospital because for years I’ve felt that my artwork could help people if it was hung in a hospital. I have tried to donate art to hospitals before but have not been successful. I’ve been living in Cardiff for 5 years and last October I decided I had to try again.
“The Primary Flowers and the Rainbow Flowers paintings were designed and painted specifically for the children’s hospital and the Gerbera Daisies, and the Tree of Life and Love are from my collection. I have always thought that children would love the Gerbera Daisies painting.
“The Water Lilies on the River Mira photo, which I took and had printed on canvas, is so peaceful, it has calmed me down when I have been feeling stressed. I hope this has the same effect on patients and their families.
“When I was a young child, I had an operation to correct a problem with my eye. My parents weren’t allowed to stay with me and after the operation I was on my own in a darkened room for five days. The experience really traumatised me and I developed a fear and dread of hospitals from that point onwards.
“I have been a patient at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) and so has my daughter when she gave birth to my grandson so it’s really nice to be able to give something back. My experiences at UHW have cured me of my fears and I’m really grateful to the staff for helping me through it.
“I feel that having artwork in hospitals can really help patients and their families, they can help someone feel a sense of calm and feel less stressed about what is happening to them just by looking at a landscape or a beautiful scene. A picture can definitely paint a thousand words.”
David Hanks, Directorate Head of Operations & Delivery, Acute Child Health at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “We’d like to thank Persh for her very kind donation of artwork to be displayed on the walls of the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales. Persh’s paintings and photos are really bright and uplifting and I’m sure patients and visitors to the hospital will appreciate them and really enjoy them.”
