inspiring curiosity through art

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IThe Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick redevelopment will feature bespoke art installations throughout the new building, designed to inspire curiosity and bring joy to patients, families and staff.

Among the highlights is a striking artwork for the building’s northern entry off High Street, created by Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artists Dennis Golding and Carmen Glynn-Braun of Re-Right Collective.

Re-Right Collective creates works that explore social, political and cultural representations of Aboriginal Australian history and contemporary experiences. Their custom artwork for Randwick will honour Bidjigal Country, the land on which the hospital stands. The artwork will be developed with the input of the hospital community.

Complementing the northern entrance, almost a dozen artists have been commissioned for a variety of other creative pieces across the hospital as part of the project’s Arts, Play and Discovery initiative, led by art and cultural strategy agency, City People.

The initiative aims to integrate creative experiences across both clinical and non-clinical spaces, including hallways and lifts, transforming the hospital into an engaging and welcoming space.

Key components include:

• Treatment space artworks designed by creative technology agency, Handy Squid, aimed at providing positive distractions for patients.
• Unique public and staff lift interiors designed by six commissioned artists, including one featuring an aerial interpretation of Randwick and the surrounding area for patients to explore (pictured right).
• A vibrant suspended art installation in the western main entry by artist Nike Savvas, visible from outside the building and enhanced by complementary wall art.

Children and young patients have been actively involved in the co-design of many of the arts elements, helping to create calming, healing and educational spaces.

The Arts, Play and Discovery initiatives for the new building also continue to involve close collaboration with hospital staff and research and innovation partners across the precinct, including the Children’s Cancer Institute and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation.

In separate cultural projects, Billard Leece Partnership and Frost Collective have developed wayfinding artwork throughout the building, with each floor themed around a different Australian animal; and a partnership with cultural experts Gujaga Foundation and Aunty Lola Ryan will celebrate Aboriginal culture through Indigenous artworks featured in the Aboriginal Gathering Space and other prominent public areas.

Pictured below: An example of the prominent envirographic wall art featuring Australian flora and fauna, which will support wayfinding on each level of the building. Each has been co-designed with the hospital community, with feedback helping to shape the final artwork.


Published January 2025