Artist Kate Keara Pelen selected to create unique art installation
Kate Keara Pelen has been selected to create an art installation entitled 'Constellation // A Watch of Nightingales', comprising a collection of over 100 badges from the former Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital, where Florence Nightingale was founder and patron. The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery is the direct descendant of this Nightingale Training School.
The badges, in the form of eight-pointed stars, have kindly been bequeathed to the Faculty by the Nightingale Fellowship, the alumni association of nurses who trained in the Nightingale Training School of St Thomas' Hospital. The Perseverance Trust is funding Kate’s research and the creation of her artwork as a gift to the Faculty.
Professor Ian Norman, Executive Dean of the Faculty, Barbara Dahill, Director of Administration and Business Development in the Faculty, Nathan Appasamy, Chair of the Nightingale Student Council, and Liz Wiacek, a part-time tutor and member of the Nightingale Fellowship, selected Kate to create the installation, which will be unveiled in March 2017.
Kate's approach to the project stems from the definition of constellation - 'a group of stars forming a recognisable pattern’ – along with a fortuitous dictionary entry accompanying the definition, stating that ‘no two patients ever show exactly the same constellation of symptoms.'
The artwork is intended to have symbolic resonance for all nurses. For example, the badges will be displayed systematically according to alphabetical and chronological order, plotted on a grid as though on a sky map, recalling the methodical and rigorous approach of Nightingale herself. Each individual badge will also be ‘tended to’ - decorated with fragments of decommissioned uniforms, suture thread and other materials. The resulting network of badges will celebrate each individual’s contribution to nursing while representing the nursing community as watchful, steadfast and interconnected. The display will be accompanied by an impressionistic audio piece, weaving together archival recordings alongside interviews with students, staff and alumni from within the Faculty, the Nightingale Foundation and the Florence Nightingale Museum.
Kate said, “It is such a privilege to be working on this project, especially as I have close family connections to nursing. I am really looking forward to speaking to students, alumni and staff and finding out how contemporary nurses relate to the badges as historical artefacts.”
Professor Ian Norman, Executive Dean of the Faculty said, “Kate’s in-depth exploration into the stories behind each Nightingale badge will highlight the valuable contribution these nurses have made to healthcare. I hope that students and staff will explore these stories and feel proud to be part of such a significant legacy of nursing, which continues in our Faculty today, as the direct descendant of the original Nightingale training school.”
The artwork will be displayed in the Student Services Centre on the third floor of the James Clerk Maxwell Building. More about Kate’s art can be found on her website.
Explore more of Kate’s work on her website: www.katekearapelen.net