Two murals have been created at the MSWiA hospital in Warsaw - such a sight is certainly reassuring not only for the medics, but also for the sick! Katarzyna "Nioska" Bogucka and Beata "Barrakuz" Sliwinska created their works on the door of a special passageway separating COVID-19-infectedpatients from the rest of the facility.
Psychologists are increasingly emphasizing the need to generate positive messages. The subjects, after all, are not in short supply. In the face of the coronavirus, many people are trying to help those most in need, including doctors on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. Everyone is doing what they can. Volunteers are sewing reusable masks at home. Private entrepreneurs provide raw materials for visors. Support groups are springing up on the Internet, where 3D printer owners are organizing. Universities and colleges are making their spaces and resources available. Artists are auctioning off their works, with proceeds going to support medical facilities. In short - society is passing the test of solidarity in times of pandemic.
Murals from Good Looking Studio
Expressions of support and thanks to health care workers can take many forms. Sometimes they are Facebook posts or memes, and sometimes they are more elaborate art forms. A good example is the mural completed last week on the facade of an apartment building at 37 Tamka Street in Warsaw by artists from Good Looking Studio. The artists painted it pro bono, using their own resources. Also, the housing community that owns the building waived the remuneration for renting the wall. Today the Warsaw artists are doing it again, this time at the MSWiA hospital at 137 Woloska Street in Warsaw.
By a decision of the governor, the MSWiA hospital was transformed in mid-March into a single-named hospital, and therefore dedicated exclusively to treating patients with COVID-19. Renovations and minor remodeling are currently underway to adapt the facility to its new functions, including the ability to accommodate more patients.
Infrastructure needs to be created that we didn't have before, including airlocks, or special passageways, separating infected patients from the virus-free zone. - says head of patient services, Iwona Soltys.
It is on one such airlock that new murals are being created.
"Thank you!" Katarzyna "Nioska" Bogucka
Photo: Good Looking Studio
The example of pediatric hospitals shows that creating a supportive environment for patients can have a positive impact on experiencing the disease, as well as on the treatment process itself, says the initiator of the action, Dr. Dominik Drobinski, chief of cardiac anesthesiologists at the cardiac surgery clinic of the MSWiA hospital.
Psychological support can prove important not only for patients, but also for staff.
I am extremely touched. A gigantic dose of positive energy. I hope that these murals will give encouragement to the doubters and courage to those who walk away from patient beds out of fear of infection. - Drobinski adds.
Nioska + Barrakuz
The paintings are meant to comfort people on both sides of the airlock. On the side intended for medical staff, an illustration is being created by Katarzyna "Nioska" Bogucka, depicting a crowd of people of all ages and the simplest, most important slogan: "Thank you!". On the side for the infected, an illustration is created by Beata "Barrakuz" Sliwinska, referring to "The Creation of Adam," Michelangelo's famous fresco from the vault of the Sistine Chapel. It depicts a hand in a surgical glove giving a peony flower. It is accompanied by the slogan: "Spring will be tomorrow."
In the current situation, I had a problem designing a painting with an optimistic message , the artist says. - I tried to realize what could affect me if I were the one on the other side.... I hope that after the end of all this there will be some kind of new order, hence the use of a painting telling the story of the creation of the world.
The gesture of giving a spring flower is also meant to speak reassuringly to the sick: this will soon be over, it will be fine, have hope. Four artists - two female painters and two male painters - worked on the murals.
People today feel a mental block and fear of working in an environment of heightened danger , says Karol Szufladowicz of Good Looking Studio. - Despite the fact that the area is 100% biologically clean, when painting the murals in the MIA hospital, we use all the protective equipment at our disposal; gloves and masks, Szufladowicz adds .
The infectious ward is still undergoing renovation work, so there is no real danger to the artists.
