An interactive community artwork display has been installed by Sutton Council at the St Nicholas vaccination centre.
The artwork invites people who have just been vaccinated at the centre, to place a rainbow window sticker or write a message about the vaccine to place onto the window. This will create a collage of rainbows and messages from the people of Sutton creating a collective snapshot of those vaccinated within the space of a few weeks.
As part of this artwork, local artist Doug Shaw worked with students from The Prince’s Trust at Carshalton College to paint a representation of what having the vaccine means to them. This has been placed in the window alongside the artwork.
Doug Shaw said;
“I really enjoyed taking part in this project, the students were so creative and have come up with something really powerful.
“In planning the piece, the students discussed what they wanted the mural to reflect. What their thoughts on the vaccine were, what was good about it, why people might have concerns about it and what it all meant for people their age.
“There was a sense of them wanting the mural to reflect things locally and beyond. The group wanted to include a ‘headline’ statement and as they talked, they agreed it would be more interesting to frame the statement as a question. They wanted to use their art to help start a conversation. They came up with the headline ‘Are we united?’ to reflect how we all need to work together to protect each other from this virus.”
Wendy Dyer, Vaccine Centre manager said;
“It’s great to see this artwork outside our centre and see people getting involved in creating it. I think the students really reflected what we are seeing here in the centre. People are coming together to get the vaccine to protect others. We are seeing younger people come into the walk-in clinics in groups and they want to ensure we can come out of this pandemic safely together.”
The interactive section also reflects how we are coming together as a community and how our individual contributions, no matter how small, build a bigger picture.”
