NYC Health + Hospitals is participating in a first-of-its-kind global evaluation of the impact of murals in hospitals, being led by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab (JAHL) and NYU Steinhardt in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
In the first study of its kind, HoME seeks to advance understanding of the impact that murals in hospitals and other clinical settings can have on people who view these large visual artworks including patients, staff, and visitors. The project will involve a mixed-methods study at sites in Slovenia, Nigeria, the UK and US, assessing possible correlations between viewing murals and workplace belonging, perceived quality of care, and wellbeing.
The HoME research team, overseen by NYU Steinhardt Associate Professor and JAHL Co-Director, Dr. Nisha Sajnani, and co-led with JAHL Research & Evaluation Associate, Marcel Foster, MPH. The team consists of members from the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida, Harvard University, a research team from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, The Art of Healing, Norwich University of the Arts, Hospital Rooms, the Arts in Medicine department at NYC Health + Hospitals, the University Children’s Hospital in Ljubljana, and the Nordic Art Initiative.
“We are interested in the question of what a hospital can look like. What role do artists have in re-imagining spaces of care? We hope that HoME inspires momentum and investment in transforming healthcare environments into true spaces of healing across different cultural contexts,” says Nisha Sajnani, PhD, Co-Director, Jameel Arts & Health Lab.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to broaden our understanding of the impact large scale murals have on public health. We are hopeful HoME will set a precedent for future studies to reinforce the essential role community murals have in healthcare frameworks,” says Larissa Trinder, Assistant Vice President of NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine.
In the coming months, HoME will lay the groundwork for future research, inspiring momentum and investment in transforming healthcare environments into true spaces of healing.
NYC Health + Hospitals has the largest public art collection in the city. Its collection of more than 7,000 artworks includes historic murals commissioned through the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, paintings, mosaics, photographs, sculptures, installation art, and murals by both emerging and established professional artists. The collection includes works by some of America’s leading artists, such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Helen Frankenthaler, Mary Frank, Betty Blayton, Candida Alvarez, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, and Keith Haring. More than an art collection, these works create a healing environment, activate spaces, engage staff, promote visual acuity, and expand access to the arts for 43,000 employees and more than 1.2 million patients who receive care at NYC Health + Hospitals facilities.
In recent years, NYC Health + Hospitals’ Community Mural Project has selected artists to create 37 murals across the health system in collaboration with hospital staff and the community. The first few years of the project were recently featured in a new book, Healing Walls: New York City Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project 2019-2021.
