West Mid Hospital Appoints Photographer in Residence


Ejatu Shaw to take pictures celebrating NHS staff over the summer


Ejatu Shaw taking photos of West Mid staff. Picture: CW+ Charity

West Middlesex University Hospital (WMUH) has appointed Ejatu Shaw as its new Photographer in Residence.

The London based multi-disciplinary artist will photograph staff over the summer months to capture and celebrate the workforce at the hospital site.

Ejatu uses both analogue and digital photography and, for this commission, she will be taking a mix of photographs, shadowing staff members whilst they work, as well as posed group shots using a device where the individual being photographed presses a button to capture the shot when they are ready. This aims to create dynamic and playful imagery that will be a unique and positive memory for staff members to be part of.

The photographs will form part of a wider exhibition which hospital charity CW+ is developing and curating to mark the heritage of WMUH as part of the hospital’s 100-year celebration funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The display will become a permanent feature in the hospital’s entrance, and along with Ejatu’s photographs, will reflect key moments of the hospital’s past, drawings and future plans.

Reflecting on her appointment, Ejatu said, “I’m excited to be the Photographer in Residence at WMUH, I’ve had a fantastic first day and met some wonderful members of staff. It’s been a pleasure to photograph them as well as having them photograph themselves through the practice of self-portraiture. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to the rest of my residency!”.

Trystan Hawkins, Arts Director at CW+, says, “We are thrilled to have Ejatu on board as our Photographer in Residence. Ejatu is an incredibly talented photographer and will be working with groups of staff across our WMUH site to acknowledge our dedicated workforce who keep the hospital running day to day. The photographs will form part of our Heritage Exhibition to celebrate 100 years of the hospital and will rightly be preserved as a historical resource as part of this new exhibition”.

This commission is the newest in a long line of hospital art and design projects as part of the CW+ Arts in Health programme, which aims to create a healing environment for patients visiting the Trust’s hospitals.

The 100 Years heritage exhibition will be unveiled this summer, with Bristol-based exhibition designers Smith and Jones working with CW+ to develop the concepts for the design and capture a snapshot of the fascinating stories, developments, and achievements of this community spirited hospital over the past 100 years.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

August 5, 2022