Art Pharmacy commissioned 36 artworks for the Lismore Base Hospital’s new art trail. | Lismore City News

Art Pharmacy in collaboration with Health Infrastructure NSW has commissioned 36 artworks by nine artists local to the Northern Rivers region for the Lismore Base Hospital’s new art trail.

Each artwork has been influenced by the hospital floor’s themes of greenery, water and flowers, and speaks to elements such as healing, Country, peace and connection. Guided by an art narrative of ‘sanctuary’ and what it means to be in a safe and nurturing collective place, the artists have spent the past year producing their spectacular artworks for this internal art trail.

Each artwork will also be allocated its own art therapy kit, for the patients of Lismore Base Hospital to connect and engage with through conversation and exercises.

Lismore Base Hospital Director of Nursing, Narelle Gleeson, said “exposure to the arts has a profoundly beneficial impact, improving patient health and wellbeing and through its use in health promotion and messaging, improving health literacy for individuals and the wider community.”

“This art trail reflects the strength and creativity of the Lismore community, and how willing they were to support healing in the Hospital.”

Dylan Bolt is an Indigenous Australian painter from Bundjalung Country whose practice explores his relationship with the ocean, as well as the relationship between animals and their environments.

Emily Imeson, 2022 winner of the Paddington Art Prize, examines how landscape painting can be an important tool in responding to the twenty-first-century effects of climate change, and impending ecological issues.

Frances Belle Parker is an Indigenous painter from Yaegl Country whose practice explores her relationship with the Ulgundahi Island where her mother grew up.

Karyn Fendley is a landscape artist from Mullumbimby, whose work explores how we remember the places we have visited.

Born in Tweed Heads, Leah Bartholomew uses her art to explore an abstract representation of the beauty found in the plants and wildlife of her local environment.

Byron Bay artist Matthew Sansom explores a creative narrative through his artwork that tells stories of nature, light and design.

Koori artist Sylvia Khan was born at the Lismore Base Hospital and through her art interprets her connection to her Aboriginality.

Tiffany Kingston is a Byron Bay-based painter whose practice awakens a greater understanding of the preciousness of all living things through the natural environment.

Lennox Head artist Tom Wolff is a photographer and writer who captures stories of people, places and the relationships that exist in the natural world.

Art Pharmacy is one of Australia’s leading art consultancies who implement creative visions and strategically curate art and cultural projects. The team have previously worked on significant projects in the public realm, and see these as a platform to bring high-quality and meaningful art into the everyday lives of all Australians.

Art Pharmacy’s goal has always been to keep our Australian creative community thriving. As a B-Corp certified organisation, Art Pharmacy has worked hard to promote emerging and established local artists through place-centric projects to give back to the Australian creative community and empower both artists and creative suppliers.