• last week
An immersive new exhibition in Leeds is shining a light on the magical work of NHS staff over Christmas, with stunning artworks bringing extraordinary tales to life.
The Thackray Museum of Medicine in Harehills has been completely reimagined by renowned local artist Andy Singleton with his vibrant paper sculptures.
They tell the heart-warmingly festive stories of five real-life hospital workers, taking visitors on an exciting trail through the building with pop-up performances along the way.
Transcript
00:00My name's Andy Singleton and I'm an artist who works with paper.
00:06As we all know, the NHS doesn't stop working over Christmas.
00:10They still have to get up on Christmas Day
00:13and go and, you know, do a normal daily shift.
00:16When I first got the brief, I felt like it was a challenge
00:19to sort of work out exactly how we combine NHS and Christmas
00:25and make it feel Christmassy for the audience
00:27who are going to come and experience whatever we produce.
00:29My favourite piece for the trail, possibly the cover illustration
00:34because I think when you... it's a scale of it, it's a very large scale
00:38and it's nestled within the entrance space where all the other pieces are.
00:42So I like the dramatic effect that you get from that.
00:46And also, I just enjoyed making the cover illustration.
00:50It was one of the fun ones to make.
00:52My other favourite is probably the first book
00:55and it's one of the characters being picked up by a taxi in the night heading to work
01:00and I just like the tone of that.
01:02It feels very Christmassy but it also captures that feel
01:05that this person's got to go and do their job.
01:08So why people should come to the exhibition?
01:11Well, because it's an interesting, exciting installation.
01:15There's multiple areas to it.
01:17It's an interesting trail for the whole family.
01:20It works for everyone on all levels.
01:22There's the sculptural elements of the work which is really interesting and unique.
01:27It's not often that you see this type of work in a museum environment.

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