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August 17th 2023 / Art Sculpture Storytelling / Derby & Burton

A Choral Forest

 
Three 2D sculptures of trees with branches and roots, featuring a persons face in the centre and decorated with leaves flowers and birds
Image courtesy of Air Arts & University Hospitals of Derby and Burton

Over 150 staff from Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust have been gathering stories through music, visual arts, poetry, and crafts.

During Covid a project called ‘the staff voice’ saw poems, stories, images collected together and specially written songs created.

‘A Choral Forest’ reimagined some of these stories as 5 beautiful tree sculptures, one for each of the Trust’s hospital sites, created by artist E J Lance. A concert took place against the backdrop of an exhibition of the trees, featuring songs performed by the staff wellbeing choir.

For Our National Health Stories the choral forest theme continues with workshops taking place to create mini choral trees based on staff’s stories of their experience in the NHS, with plans to create new music to accompany the existing songs that will become a new EP.