Nurses and Midwives Art exchange
The Nurses and Midwives art exchange was produced as part of the Archives of Feelings exhibition for The Big Anxiety Festival, at the RMIT Design Hub Gallery in 2022.
We were guided in unique thought-provoking and empathy-focused workshops and activities, led by RMIT Fine Art lecturers. We responded to social justice challenges beyond the school environment. We collaborated with nurses and midwives working during pandemic time across Australia and the US, and responded to their stories in an experimental way.
I responded to my nurse Shaley Ellis’ Covid Testing print artwork(2021).
‘It represents a stressful and scary time for myself (and a lot of others). Both the plague doctor and the scared patient are representations of myself…
It felt therapeutic to carve all the anxiety and darkness I was feeling into a lino tile, but also symbolic of the ways my work was slowly carving away at me.’
—Shaley Ellis, Covid Testing, Linoleum-cut print on paper, 2021.
During COVID, nurses were almost like shadows and their effort was not 100% appreciated, despite how much emotional and physical work nurses have contributed to the health care system.
The rice clay artwork ‘Shadow’ responds to her multiple emotions experienced during COVID (2020-2021): scared, frustration, anger, depression, worry and anxiety. The curvy half-moon shapes were inspired by the shadow of the background of her lino cut piece. The edges and concave paths were carefully smoothed by my fingers, they are like safe zones that anyone can just jump in to block out noises from outside, and come out whenever you are ready.
—Vivian Qiu, Shadow, rice clay (rice and embroidery floss), 2022
Huge thanks to our lecturers Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith, Grace McQuilten, Dr Fleur Summers, Dr Mark Edgoose and Dr Ruth De Souza for guidance and support along the way.
