The Things That Make You Sick [Presentation]

I showed visual materials produced in the late 1970s to address the cuts to the NHS taking place at that time. The presentation will cover the journey taken with fellow artist Peter Dunn to explore how, as artists, we could make a difference to the activist work in these campaigns and what it was that art specifically could offer.

When the closure of Bethnal Green Hospital was announced, its medical staff occupied the site and continued to care for the patients. We were approached to make a video about the campaign and followed this with a series of posters and an exhibition in the hospital foyer to advise visitors as to why it was in occupation. The hospital was initially saved as a result of the campaign, though later closed under the Thatcher government and has now been converted into private homes.

Following this we were invited to join a steering committee involving representatives of health workers’ unions, a local trades council and health campaign, to produce visual materials that would inform the public on the potential effects of the increasing cuts in health services. This became the East London Health Project and addressed both general concerns, such as cuts to the NHS, as well as issues pertaining specifically to women such as contraception and the impact of wider social issues on women’s health.