10 artists selected by NYC medical program to create new murals at facilities

NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine program has announced the selection of ten artists to design and create murals at its facilities, as part of the NYC Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project. The artists will work in collaboration with patients, staff, and neighborhood residents to design the murals, followed by community “paint parties” to bring the designs to life. The ten artists were selected from over 130 applicants and include a mosaic artist, an augmented reality muralist, and a photomural artist.

The NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine program manages the largest public art collection in the city with over 7,000 pieces of art. Decades of research have shown that the arts can play a role in “healing the healers” as well as improving patient outcomes and forging community health awareness and partnerships. The new murals will build on the 26 murals created in the first wave of the Community Mural Project and recently featured in a new book, Healing Walls: New York City Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project 2019-2021. The Community Mural Project and several other Arts in Medicine programs at NYC Health + Hospitals are possible with a grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

NYC Health + Hospitals is committed to promoting a culture of healing through the arts. As Eric Wei, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, explains: “Arts programming is part of a systemwide strategy to encourage a culture of healing for our patients, families and employees. These uplifting murals are intentionally placed in busy corridors, clinics, and staff spaces to empower and engage our community.”

Laurie M. Tisch, President of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, also highlights the importance of the murals: “The murals bring joy, they bring happiness, they bring self-awareness, and the Project brings a sense of community and of working together.”

According to Larissa Trinder, Assistant Vice President of Arts in Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals, murals provide an immersive experience that directly contributes to the overall health of the people around them. In healthcare, research has shown that a person’s physical environment is important by providing a soothing and calming experience that correlates with better health outcomes. The Arts in Medicine community mural artists install joyful, bright and hopeful murals as an additional avenue to support public health.

The Community Mural Project is believed to be the country’s largest public hospital mural program since the 1930s, when the depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned murals in public buildings, including virtually every hospital in New York City’s public healthcare system. The WPA murals were the start of NYC Health + Hospitals art collection, which now is the city’s largest public art collection and includes more than 7,000 pieces of art of multiple disciplines. The art collection is used to enhance the healthcare environment, inspire creativity, promote wellness, increase access to the arts, and engage staff.

The selected artists include: Dister Rondon, Roy Secord, Jodi Dareal, Kristy McCarthy, Rachel Alban, Stephanie Costello, Yukiko Izumi, Ji Yong Kim, Tijay Mohammed and Zeehan Wazed.

The artists were selected from Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.