The National Eye Hospital 15-20 (L'Hôpital National des 15-20) in Paris' Bastille welcomed the British artist Fiona Grady as their artist in residence for a month during October - November 2024.
Fiona Grady's work centres around shape and colour, and for over ten years she has been creating stained glass inspired windows made from coloured vinyl all over the world.
During her stay at the 15-20 hospital, Fiona collaborated with the staff of the Ophthalmology Consultation Center and the Retina Center, to make the place more hospitable and improve the daily lives of the people visiting or working there. Three large-scale artworks were installed by her on the glass areas in these services. Inspired by the themes of her art practice, she created stained glass effect windows, using coloured vinyl shapes.
The National Hospital 15-20 leads with an ambitious cultural policy
Art is a powerful tool of expression. Since it is particularly unifying and no pathology completely prevents a person from being "sensitive" to it, the 15-20 hospital has developed an ambitious and original cultural policy whose objective is to improve the hospital environment for patients, visitors and teams.
A key axis of cultural policy is the establishment of an artists' residency; Retina, within the Saint-Louis Residence's accommodation. With the support of Arthur Bessaud, founder of the Galerie Bessaud, the hospital allows artists to have a production studio and visibility of their works within this cultural space dedicated to meeting, exchange and social ties around art.