Arts for Health MK Collection and Exhibitions Manager Emma Barford

In the tenth instalment of our Twenty for Twenty series, we ask Arts for Health MK Collection and Exhibitions Manager Emma Barford to select an artwork.

Which work in The Collection have you chosen to talk about?

The acrylic painting  ‘Girl with a Chicken’ by an unknown artist.

When and how did you first see it?

I first saw this artwork during a tour of The Collection on my very first day of work as Arts for Health MK’s new Collections and Exhibitions Manager, nearly five years ago now. It was introduced to me as a ‘cherished artwork’ amongst the hospital community and it most certainly is.  

What first interested or attracted you to this artwork?

I am nominating this artwork for the Twenty for Twenty project on behalf of all the patients, staff and visitors to MKUH who cherish this work dearly. There have been many more occasions than I dare count that I have been stopped in the corridor by someone eager to tell me that their favourite artwork is “The Girl with the Chicken!” as it is affectionately known. Despite our best detective work, so far, we not been able to trace the artist behind this work but donated to the hospital many years ago and found its adoptive home. If you may know who the artist is, do get in touch.

Do you remember how seeing this work made you feel?

This painting has a warmth about it, in the colour palette and composition. You can see the care in the little girls eyes that she has for her chicken, perhaps a pet, she holds it close and keeps it safe, there as a comfort in this, especially in the context of the environment it is displayed in.  For many who walk past there is a familiarity in the scene; often I am told “it reminds me...” of children, family and friends when they were younger.

In general, what kind of impact do you think seeing art at MKUH has on your experience of being on the hospital site?

The collection is in a unique position that it has the potential to reach and resonate with any person who visits the hospital, it enhances the environment, and the sense of care are pride in our surroundings. Perhaps most powerfully it allows permission to pause - a momentary distraction, conversation and respite from the emotional complexities of hospital life.   

We have so many hidden gems in The Collection, from artworks by the likes of Patrick Huges, Sonia Lawson to Aubrey Williams to name a few. It is such a privilege to work with them week in week out, as we say ‘Look Around You’, next time you are in, who knows what you will discover.  

 
Contributors: Emma Barford 
Emma Barford is the Collection and Exhibitions Manager at Arts for Health MK. Her role involves overseeing the day to day Management of the Collection and Temporary Exhibitions on display at Milton Keynes University Hospital.