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The “Stay In” walls are part of a collaboration between the University of Bristol’s intercalated BA in Medical Humanities (@UoBrisIBAMH), the Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft (prsc.org.uk) with Object000, and various Bristol street artists (Ryder, Decay, uncredited, 3DOM and SEPR).
Without the artists none of this would be possible. They showed up for free and let their walls be painted over the next day.
#medicineonthewalls takes Graphic Medicine to the streets. It tries to start healthcare discussions going from the ground up, and not the top down.
#medicineonthewalls tries to make the kind of emotional engagement with medicine and health happen better than it often does through official channels. Taking Graphic Medicine to the streets is particularly appropriate here in Bristol, because street art is now a bit of a Bristol-fashion.
Why “Stay In” and not the official “Stay Home”? Some people don’t have a home. They’re often the people that official messaging misses out. And the artists aren#t what you’d call official. They’re showing their support for this message, at this time.
Why not just one “Stay In”? Partly it’s about keeping the message fresh in people’s mind, partly it’s about showing the diversity of support for the message, partly it’s about showing the different understandings of the message.
All three reasons support one another. And because it shows how different people, with different values, are uniting in the present effort to reduce the impact of COVID-19, it shows that what we are about is not uniformity, but collaboration and community in a shared effort.
Repetition also makes each wall a part of a sentence, especially when linked to the “Love the NHS” wall (and
see the title image). And when timelapsed together it makes a kind of “video-graff”.
For graffiti fans, these can be quite interesting for the techniques. And timelapses are just fun. Later we will release longer versions, with music. We did this for one last year, in collaboration with Will Irving:
Further details about the #medicineonthewalls project at:
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/blackwell/news/2019/medicine-on-the-wall.html