Can public art help create caring spaces and communities?

As one of three permanent public art sites and the only two-dimensional space, we were allocated a large wall (22 m wide x 6m high) by the rear entrance of St Mary’s Hospital, where ambulances and taxis enter Tanner Lane.

St Mary’s is the university hospital where Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 and remains to this day the preferred birthing place for nearby residents, celebrities and the Royal Family. During the pandemic, it was a key emergency care facility in central London.  On a permanent basis, it showcases significant artworks from the Imperial Health Charity’s Art Collection, including site-specific installations by Bridget Riley, Anni and Josef Albers; key contemporary works by Rachel Whiteread, Gary Hume, Rana Begum and Sonia Boyce; and a monumental installation of 40 works over five floors by Julian Opie.

Inspired by this extraordinary setting and the kindred spirit of the hospital’s in-house curator, we conceived an invited competition for a permanent outdoor mural on the topic of ‘care’. The custom wall was fit-out by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the site’s architect, and mirrors the elegant architecture of the neighbouring building.

The shortlisted artists, including Sophie Calle, Joy Gregory and Catherine Yass, each provided an enticing proposition. After some deliberation by an independent jury comprising local community stakeholders and industry figureheads; Yass’ proposal was selected for its bold vision to celebrate caring NHS Workers.

“Ten NHS workers are swimming underwater, overhead down Tanner Lane. They flow down this narrow road between Saint Mary’s Hospital and Renzo Piano Studio’s new office building, reflecting the stream of people moving through to catch trains and get to work. Photographed on large format sheet film, over 200 images are overlaid onto blue negatives to create a sense of movement and a deep blue space that leaves us floating down the street between water and sky.“

– Catherine Yass

From recruitment to photo shoot and installation, the logistics were challenging during lockdown. At one stage, we temporarily lost the underwater pool operator to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in order to document the British synchronised swimmers and divers for a BBC broadcast.

The artist’s vision and determination, however, only became stronger. Whether viewed in detail from across the laneway under the building’s canopy or caught for a glimpse from a moving car entering the hospital, the floating bodies and vast blue water imagery, provide a moment of respite and curiosity. The concept and composition of the artwork were informed by Giotto’s Life of Christ (1304-06), a spectacular fresco in Padua’s Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), where 10 caring angels guard the birth of Christ with the backdrop of a bright blue sky of lapus lazuli: a metamorphic rock made from royal blue and golden pyrite, prized since Antiquity as a precious art material and characteristic of early Renaissance mural paintings. It also symbolises the artist’s own visual language, which due to an analogue photographic technique developed over decades, often embodies the same bold blue aesthetic.

In Yass’ contemporary composition, the swimmers reflect the gender, diversity and age range of NHS workers at St Mary’s Hospital. While individual identities are hard to decipher on a billboard hung four-to-ten metres above eye level, the precise print finish identifies the protagonists as real people and taking great pleasure while swimming and somersaulting for the camera.

Since the artwork’s unveiling in October 2025, it has become a beloved backdrop to the lives of local residents, workers and visitors. In the artist’s own words: “The NHS stands for some kind of belief that we all have a right to health”, and by extension, the installation has helped create a caring space and community at Paddington Square.

The Paddington Square Public Art Programme was developed in the framework of Section 106: a compulsory urban planning requirement in the UK, which supports the realisation of new public artworks. Curated by Lacuna, it was produced in collaboration with the client group (commissioner Great Western Developments and development manager Sellar), St. Mary’s Hospital, local businesses and residential associations, and with strong engagement from Westminster City Council.

Lacuna’s curatorial vision for The Paddington Square Public Art Programme was to commission new site-specific artworks by critically acclaimed contemporary artists with no prior permanent projects in London’s built environment. NHS Swimmers is Catherine Yass’ first permanent public artwork in London.

See AJN Journal for more Reflections on the PSQ Public Art Programme.

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NHS SWIMMERS, 2021-2024
Sustainable printed vinyl on custom metal frame
2200 cm length x 600 cm height

Artwork by Catherine Yass
Permanent Public Art Commission
Paddington Square, London

Commissioned by Great Western Developments
Architecture by Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Curated by Lacuna

Fabrication: Moss UK
Engineering: Price and Myers
Installation: M-Tec Fine Art

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AJN worked as associate curator on the project.