New exhibition set for HeArts gallery

Two artworks: On the left is Collapse IV by Paul Clark, and on the right is Through Hoops by Helen Snell.
Collapse IV by Paul Clark (left) and Through Hoops by Helen Snell (right)

Published: 26 October 2023

The next exhibition at the HeArts gallery at Torbay Hospital will focus on reflections from conversations about the challenges and rewards of working in the NHS, as well as questioning the meaning of clinical objects.

‘Once.. the.. applause.. faded..’ is a joint exhibition with Helen Snell, artist in residence, and Dr Paul Clark, and will be on display from Saturday 04 November to Monday 15 January.

Helen has been the artist in residence at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust since 2022. The role has been funded by NHS Charities Together’s Arts in Recovery fund. Helen has shadowed colleagues across many hospital departments and community healthcare settings. The resulting conversations and interactions have shaped the evolving narratives in these drawings. These co-created drawings highlight the challenges and rewards of working in the NHS at this uniquely challenging moment. Helen has particularly focused on the work environments of staff in non-public and ‘backstage’ areas, or on staff who feel invisible or overlooked in the public imagination. Helen uses a range of media to document these conversations and to ask wider questions. These works will form the basis of more involved and larger scale works to be presented at the end of her residency in July 2024.

Helen Snell:

Paul is a retired palliative care doctor working as a medical examiner and studying for an MA in painting at Arts University Plymouth. Paul is interested in the interplay of science and art and how each can inform and inspire the other when considering the human condition. Working in both figurative and abstract drawing and painting, Paul’s work aims to question the meaning of clinical objects when utilised or located in a non-clinical setting.

Paul Clark: