The project partners for ‘Unsung Heroes’ met in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh late last week to discuss progress. This was a great opportunity to see examples of the Edinburgh College of Art students’ preparatory work, and the space in the Infirmary that has been identified for the installation of their pieces alongside items from the LHSA historic badge collection.
We were shown a display of enamel ‘postcards’, which form the starting point for the new artwork that will be created for the permanent display. The students took inspiration from LHSA primary source material and oral testimony from current and retired nurses to produce evocative images, often with layering of historic photos of hospital life with text.
Examples of some of the enamel 'postcards'
We also spent time choosing which badges from the LHSA collection will form part of the installation, and discussing what information might be included in the text panels next to the display to provide some context.
An exciting new possibility arose during the meeting - we may be able to use a smartphone app to enable links to additional images, background to the historic badges and new artworks and excerpts of the oral histories. Further investigation is needed to ensure that this would work for ‘Unsung Heroes’, so watch this space!
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