Shape Shift: Reflections on Art in Mental Health Settings at The Fitzrovia Chapel

Fabian Peake, The Forest, 2024. Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich. © Fabian Peake. Photo © Hospital Rooms (Damian Griffiths).

13th — 25th March 2025

Shape Shift: A new exhibition in partnership with The Fitzrovia Chapel, the chapel for the former Middlesex Hospital, and Norwich University of the Arts.

Opening Times: 11am – 6pm daily (open on Mondays) | 12 noon – 5pm Sunday

 

Artists: Sarah Dwyer, Errol Francis, Michael Landy, Ghislaine Leung, Shepherd Manyika, Jade de Montserrat, Ken Nwadiogbu, Ṣọlá Olúlòde, Nengi Omuku, Fabian Peake, Heather Phillipson, Holly Sandiford, Dolly Sen, Mark Titchner, Rosa-Johan Uddoh.

Co-Curators: Sophie Bagge, Fenn Harris, Mark Jennings, Su Pashley, Jodie Rowe, Holly Sandiford, Tim A Shaw, Nicola Simpson, Tim Steer, Niamh White.

 

The show tells the stories of artworks from Hospital Rooms’ three-year project at Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich, which commissioned 15 international artists to work with the hospital’s patients and staff, creating major artworks.

Through this process of collaboration, imagining and working, new and poetic dreams came into being, while personal, domestic, institutional and clinical narratives collided. This exhibition attempts to navigate these collisions and to generate further discussion. It is set within the walls of the Fitzrovia Chapel, a building where patients, families and staff would once come for calm, respite and sanctuary during busy and sometimes fraught hospital days and nights.

This exhibition has been informed by a research collaboration with Hospital Rooms, Norwich University of the Arts, and a Lived Experience Team of co-researchers who are evaluating this large-scale multi-site Arts Intervention at Hellesdon Hospital. In a series of monthly workshops using creative, arts-based and material research methods, the lived experience co-researchers have engaged with a creative, critical and embodied retelling of the old and new hospital spaces by those who have and will live there. These artistic outcomes are represented here in the Fitzrovia Chapel in cyanotype and sound installations which invite the audience to use all their senses to experience the personal and the public transformation and impact of the arts in mental health hospital spaces.

The Hellesdon Hospital Project was in partnership with Norwich University of Arts, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Supported by COAT Paints, Hauser & Wirth and Arts Council England. Our cultural partners were Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery and the Sainsbury Centre.

Find Out More

Accessing the Venue

Fitzrovia Chapel, Fitzroy Place, 2 Pearson Square, London W1T 3BF

The chapel is situated in the heart of Fitzrovia, central London, Pearson Square, which is a pedestrianised area not accessible to vehicles. You can enter it on foot from the north side on Riding House Street, the east side on Cleveland Street and the south side on Mortimer Street.

The Fitzrovia Chapel is close to several underground stations.

 

By Tube:

  • Tottenham Court Road
  • Goodge Street
  • Warren Street
  • Great Portland Street
  • Oxford Circus

 

By Bus:

  • Goodge Street
  • Tottenham Court Road/New Oxford Street
  • Regent Street/Oxford Circus

The chapel is fully accessible for wheelchair users. The space is on one level, and while there is a step outside, a wheelchair lift is available. Visitors are encouraged to reach out in advance to discuss any specific accessibility needs. The goal is to ensure that everyone has a comfortable and enjoyable experience with the necessary support during their visit.

To discuss any specific accessibility requirements, please contact info@fitzroviachapel.org or WhatsApp 07342 888155.

  • For any inquiries, please contact The Fitzrovia Chapel via email at info@fitzroviachapel.org.
  • For questions regarding access to the chapel, you may also reach out via WhatsApp at 07342 888155.

 

  • Dates: Thursday 13 to Tuesday 25 March 2025
  • Times: 11am – 6pm daily (open on Mondays) | 12 noon – 5pm Sunday

 

  • Private View: Wednesday 12 March | 6-9pm
  • The private view is expected to be busy, and due to the chapel’s limited capacity, visitors may be required to queue for entry. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

In Collaboration with