Dr Erica Seccombe stands in front of the 80-metre street mural she designed for Campbelltown Hospital in 2022. Photo: Nat Williams.
The wards of the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital will feature unique artwork inspired by local plants, animals and landscapes that hold meaning for the community.
Canberra artist and educator Dr Erica Seccombe will run drawing workshops in September and October. The drawings will be translated into art on the walls of the $330 million Level 4 hospital in Moruya.
Dr Seccombe is the first artist to be announced in the once-in-a-generation hospital art project that aims to provide a welcoming, supportive and inclusive space for patients, staff and visitors.
Dr Seccombe lives in Googong, but returned to Canberra in 2000 to be near her family and work on her Masters degree and PhD after spending many years living in Sydney and on the South Coast.
A lifelong drawer, she has been a practising artist since graduating from the Sydney College of the Arts in 1990. Dr Seccombe now lectures in observational drawing, art theory and practice-led research at the Australian National University (ANU).
A different perspective provides context of the 80-metre street mural in Campbelltown Hospital. Photo: Nat Williams.
Her hospital work began with the Campbelltown Hospital Rebuild in 2019. As a consultant, she rolled out a series of successful drawing workshops.
“I ended up working with Dharawal Elder Aunty Glenda Chalker and Walbunja Elder Aunty Deidre Martin,” Dr Seccombe said.
“They led me to really look at culturally significant plants to bring a sense of wellness and connection to the surrounding country, so the hospital is full of medicinal plants.”
She has received plenty of feedback from patients and staff at the hospital who felt they had some control over the redevelopment and felt safe with a sense of bringing nature indoors.
“There is evidence even images of nature can make us feel more positive and lead to better outcomes and experiences,” Dr Seccombe said.
Each artwork in the hospital, starting with the emergency department, has a story to tell. The full story is revealed in the children’s ward, set in a bush setting with animals hiding among it.
“There is a sense of discovery, not a blank wall and a scary space.”
The hospital redevelopment was awarded the European Healthcare Design Award for Arts and Interior Design.
Participants at a free drawing workshop as part of the Campbelltown Hospital Integrated Arts Project at Campbelltown Arts Centre in 2019. Photo: Erica Seccombe.
“That is the approach we are taking with the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital, using community workshops to find out what makes people feel comfortable in a hospital setting,” she said.
“Is it plants, animals or the sea that brings you a better experience of the hospital?”
Dr Seccombe will host eight free community workshops across the shire from 11 September to 4 October, each running three to four hours. She will also run two workshops for hospital staff.
She said drawing and drawing workshops were very relaxing.
“The workshops are not about whether you can draw, but experimenting, making a mess and having fun,” Dr Seccombe said. “That way, people can relax and you hear about what makes them feel good.”
She will include images of plants and animals to get the workshop started, but participants can bring along anything that carries personal meaning including photographs, shells or feathers from the region.
Dr Seccombe said too often workshop participants would not draw because they thought it must be perfect or they were not good enough.
She said brush and ink would be used because it stopped participants thinking that way.
“Then they realise they don’t have to be particular about details,” she said. “It is a sense of discovery and an idea we are expressing.”
Several workshops will be held during school holidays. Parents are asked to accompany participants under 16 years of age.
“Children of all ages get a lot out of seeing their parents involved and usually the parents end up having more fun than their kids,” she said.
Eurobodalla Regional Hospital’s artwork will present a range of views on the environment.
“There must be meaning there for everyone, whether they are new to Eurobodalla or have been here for generations.”
Dr Seccombe has a personal connection to the South Coast. Her settler forebears farmed and logged as far south as Tilba Tilba.
Bookings for the free workshops in Moruya Library and Arts Centre, Bay Pavilion, Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden and Dalmeny Community Hall can be made via Dr Seccombe’s website.
