The Dance at Trinity Hospice Blackpool
“There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
The mission statement of Trinity Hospice is: “Compassionate care on the journey to the end of life.” Recognising that this journey is challenging and unique for every individual the Directors and Board of Trustees identified an opportunity to facilitate conversations with patients and carers through the use of commissioned bespoke artwork to be hung in their ecumenical and interfaith Hospice Chapel in 2010. The aim was to create a space that enabled people to reflect, acknowledge and if needed express their complex emotions using the paintings as prompts.
In approaching this commission I asked the following questions. What do the staff and carers do in this hospice? What are the patients and loved ones feeling and thinking? What is it to be a human being? I decided to choose the theme of The Dance, inspired by the well-known hymn Lord of the Dance. Each of the 6ft oil paintings was of a dancing figure in different poses. All seven paintings reflect different aspects of the experience of living with or caring for someone with a life-limiting illness.
