Caring Connections
Gofalu Grange
Caring Connections
In 2019, when Grange University Hospital was still under construction, Davis & Jones were commissioned to build people, stories and friendship into the fabric of the hospital through socially engaged art.
Gofalu Grange | Caring Connections is the creative programme devised to connect with patients, staff and residents by:
Creating atmospheres and environments that support healing, friendship and simply being at ease during times of difficulty;
Helping people make positive connections with the region’s reshaped health services, Clinical Futures.
Deborah Aguirre Jones was lead artist from Davis & Jones, an arts partnership that engages communities through performance, creativity and co-production of artworks.
Gofalu Grange
Yn 2019, pan oedd Ysbyty Athrofaol y Faenor wrthi’n cael ei adeiladu, comisiynwyd Davis & Jones i ymgorffori pobl, straeon a chyfeillgarwch yng ngwead yr ysbyty trwy gelf sy'n ymgysylltu'n gymdeithasol.
Gofalu Grange | Caring Connections yw'r rhaglen greadigol a ddyfeisiwyd i gysylltu â chleifion, staff a thrigolion trwy:
Creu awyrgylch ac amgylchedd sy'n cefnogi iachâd, cyfeillgarwch ac yn syml sy’n teimlo’n gartrefol ar gyfnodau anodd;
Helpu pobl i wneud cysylltiadau cadarnhaol â'r gwasanaethau iechyd ar eu newydd wedd yn y rhanbarth. Dyfodol Clinigol.
Deborah Aguirre Jones oedd prif artist Davis & Jones, partneriaeth gelf sy'n ymgysylltu â chymunedau trwy berfformiad, creadigrwydd a chyd-gynhyrchu gweithiau celf.
Extraordinary Conversations
Everyday and unusual conversations have been the format for this programme. As people met, made art and talked, themes emerged that Deborah reflected back as artworks, events and opportunities for further connection so that, over time, the explorations grew deeper and the themes continued to unfold.
Deborah initially held conversations with construction workers, healthcare support workers, pathologists, management teams and wider health board staff, children at Griffithstown Primary School, a care home for the elderly, gardening volunteers, staff at Serennu Children’s Centre, Clinical Futures Champions and local residents. Together, they explored people's rich feelings, thoughts and ideas about the Grange University Hospital, which was under construction at the time.
Four central themes arose; Space – how being in the hospital’s high-tech spaces feel like being on a spaceship fuelled by courage and future-thinking; Time – how – compared with everyday life – speed, slowness and the passage of time is experienced differently on critical care, paediatric and maternity wards; Kit – why knowing how to equip ourselves for change, whether it is our place of work or a new healthcare system, is important; Communication and connection – why friendly communication, and the giving and receiving of kindness, is all-important.
Projects and artworks emerged from these discussions. An old suitcase became a time machine. People were asked to imagine themselves in the hospital in 10 years’ time and answer the question: “What would you whisper in the ear of a patient, their visitors or a member of staff?”
A paper version of the new hospital was also set up and, over six days, animated paper models and notes of conversations brought the place to life, creating a landscape of feelings and dreams, and hopes and fears, which ranged from the imaginative to the practical.
Synapse saw conversations take place on a set of gold-leafed, raggle-taggle dining chairs, an unlikely and beautiful spectacle. A range of people joined Deborah in everyday and unusual places, where they talked about how we can be together when so much is pulling us apart.
Covid-19
At the beginning of the pandemic, Deborah adapted her role and the commission in response to the limitations and needs of the hospital and region: in-person meet-ups were mostly impossible; NHS staff faced unprecedented workloads and stress; and people everywhere were facing loss and re-evaluating core values. Online partnership working, including I’m Thinking of You along with wider conversations, suggested that the initial themes and questions posedwere meaningful and relevant to the Covid-19 crisis. I’m Thinking of You, launched at the start of lockdown in April 2020,wasa 12-week project which commissioned 61 artists to create an artwork in response to the experience of lockdown that would support and connect families. I’m Thinking of You was madein partnership with Iceberg Creative Arts Programme, Gwent Community Psychology Families & Therapies, Gwent Arts in Health (GARTH), artists Becca+Clare.
Sgyrsiau Anarferol
Sgyrsiau bob dydd a sgyrsiau anarferol oedd y fformat ar gyfer y rhaglen hon. Wrth i bobl gwrdd, creu celf a siarad, daeth themâu i'r amlwg a gafodd eu hadlewyrchu gan Deborah fel gweithiau celf, digwyddiadau a chyfleoedd i gysylltu ymhellach fel bod yr archwiliadau, dros amser, yn dyfnhau a’r themâu’n parhau i ddatblygu.
I ddechrau, cynhaliodd Deborah sgyrsiau â gweithwyr adeiladu, gweithwyr cymorth gofal iechyd, timau patholeg, timau rheoli a staff ehangach y bwrdd iechyd, plant Ysgol Gynradd Griffithstown, cartref gofal i'r henoed, gwirfoddolwyr garddio, staff yng Nghanolfan Blant Serennu, Hyrwyddwyr Dyfodol Clinigol a thrigolion lleol. Gyda’i gilydd, fe wnaethant archwilio teimladau, meddyliau a syniadau cyfoethog pobl am Ysbyty Athrofaol y Faenor, oedd wrthi’n cael ei adeiladu ar y pryd.
Cododd pedair thema ganolog; Man - sut mae bod ym mannau uwch-dechnoleg yr ysbyty yn teimlo fel bod ar long ofod sy'n cael ei sbarduno gan ddewrder a meddwl i’r dyfodol; Amser - sut - o'i gymharu â bywyd bob dydd - mae cyflymder, arafwch a threigl amser yn brofiad gwahanol ar wardiau gofal critigol, pediatreg a mamolaeth; Offer - pam y mae'n bwysig gwybod sut i baratoi ein hunain ar gyfer newid, p'un ai a yw’n newid yn y gweithle neu newid system gofal iechyd newydd; Cyfathrebu a chysylltu - pam mae cyfathrebu cyfeillgar, a rhoi a derbyn caredigrwydd, yn holl bwysig.
Daeth prosiectau a gweithiau celf i'r amlwg o'r trafodaethau hyn. Daeth hen gês dillad yn beiriant amser. Gofynnwyd i bobl ddychmygu eu hunain yn yr ysbyty ymhen 10 mlynedd ac ateb y cwestiwn: 'Beth fyddech chi'n ei sibrwd yng nghlust claf, ei ymwelwyr neu aelod o staff?'
Crëwyd fersiwn bapur o’r ysbyty newydd a thros 6 diwrnod daeth modelau papur animeiddiedig a nodiadau o sgyrsiau â’r ysbyty’n fyw, gan greu tirlun o deimladau a breuddwydion, gobeithion ac ofnau, o’r dychmygus i’r ymarferol.
Fel rhan o Synapse cynhaliwyd sgyrsiau ar set o gadeiriau bwyta anniben wedi'u gorchuddio â dalennau aur gan greu golygfa annisgwyl a hardd. Ymunodd ystod o bobl â Deborah am sgwrs mewn lleoedd bob dydd a lleoedd anarferol, lle buont yn trafod sut y gallwn fod gyda'n gilydd pan fo cymaint yn ein tynnu ar wahân.
Covid-19
Ar ddechrau'r pandemig, addasodd Deborah ei rôl a'r comisiwn mewn ymateb i’r cyfyngiadau ac anghenion yr ysbyty a'r rhanbarth: roedd cyfarfod wyneb yn wyneb yn amhosibl ar y cyfan; Roedd staff y GIG yn wynebu llwyth gwaith a straen digynsail; ac roedd pobl ym mhobman yn wynebu colled ac yn ail-werthuso gwerthoedd craidd. Roedd gwaith ar-lein mewn partneriaeth, gan gynnwys I’m Thinking of You ynghyd â sgyrsiau ehangach, yn awgrymu bod y themâu cychwynnol a'r cwestiynau a ofynnwydyn ystyrlon ac yn berthnasol i argyfwng Covid-19. Prosiect 12 wythnos oedd I’m Thinking of You, a lansiwyd ar ddechrau'r cyfnod clo ym mis Ebrill 2020, a gomisiynodd 61 o artistiaid i greu gwaith celf mewn ymateb i’r cyfnod clo a fyddai'n cefnogi ac yn cysylltu teuluoedd. Crëwyd I’m Thinking of You mewn partneriaeth â Rhaglen Celfyddydau Creadigol Iceberg, Teuluoedd a Therapïau Seicoleg Cymunedol Gwent, Gwent Arts in Health (GARTH), a’r artistiaid Becca+Clare.
Together they asked: “What does it mean to be in this space together as humans, with all our wonder, fragility, strength, grief and passion… As staff, patients, family and community?”
About the artists
Deborah Aguirre Jones is a socially engaged artist who enjoys making work with other people because of the surprises, meaningfulness and sheer sociability of the processes and the resulting artworks.
Deborah works as part of Davis & Jones. Deborah Aguirre Jones and El Davis have been collaborating for more than 10 years as socially engaged artists interested in the everyday and extraordinary. They interact with, and gently interrupt, the social and physical contexts in which they work, collaboratively creating events, publications, digital and physical and artworks to explore how we connect with places and each other.
Artist Caroline Stealey has worked alongside Deborah throughout Gofalu Grange | Caring Connections. Caroline is a multidisciplinary artist who now lives near Chepstow in the Monmouthshire countryside. Influenced by place, nature and historical events, she uses mainly textiles to create both 2D and 3D pieces. To learn more about their collaboration please visit https://gofalugrange.co.uk/
Yr artistiaid
Mae Deborah Aguirre Jones yn artist sy'n ymgysylltu'n gymdeithasol ac sy'n mwynhau creu gwaith â phobl arall oherwydd yr elfennau annisgwyl, ystyrlon a chymdeithasol sy'n gysylltiedig â'r prosesau a'r gweithiau celf sy’n deillio o hynny.
Mae Deborah yn gweithio fel rhan o Davis & Jones. Mae Deborah Aguirre Jones ac El Davis wedi bod yn cydweithio am fwy na 10 mlynedd fel artistiaid sy'n ymgysylltu'n gymdeithasol a chanddynt ddiddordeb mewn pethau cyffredin a phethau hynod. Maent yn rhyngweithio â'r cyd-destunau cymdeithasol a ffisegol y maent yn gweithio ynddynt, ac yn tarfu’n ysgafn arnynt, gan greu digwyddiadau, cyhoeddiadau, digidol a chorfforol a gweithiau celf i archwilio sut rydym yn cysylltu â lleoedd a'n gilydd.
Mae’r artist Caroline Stealey wedi gweithio ochr yn ochr â Deborah ar Gofalu Grange | Caring Connections drwyddi draw. Mae Caroline yn artist amlddisgyblaethol sydd bellach yn byw ger Cas-gwent yng nghefn gwlad Sir Fynwy. Wedi'i dylanwadu gan le, natur a digwyddiadau hanesyddol, mae hi'n defnyddio tecstilau yn bennaf i greu darnau 2D a 3D. I ddysgu mwy am y cydweithrediad ewch i https://gofalugrange.co.uk/