We invited French artist Alexia who was based in Cambodia to lead a mural art project in the newly completed building of surgical ward at Kratie provincial referral hospital. We always wanted to brighten up the building and give warm feeling to patients.
Alexia decided to volunteer on this project from designing to painting with the participation of pediatric patients and hospital staff. We now have beautiful arts in the patient’s hall and pediatric room, representing abstract shapes among which we can figure seeds for a better future here, a road to the sun and a smiling face there along with a red dot, nod to the Japanese flag for FIDR! Happy faces of kids, creative times with the hospital staff resulting in a bright and warm space, we feel that we could bring art and medical care together. Thank you so much Alexia!

Hereafter is some expression of Alexia after finishing the mural art project during 3 days in Kratie.
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My idea of the art project was to bring comfort, support and life to the place in a way that it could speak to the most. We decided to build the compositions around supportive words in Khmer for people who can read: “get well soon” and “we wish you a good recovery”. To complete the project, a whole corridor is saved for patients to write other healing words. The overall design is made for our imagination to build up our own story.

The challenge was to make it happen in 3 days, at the peak of the hottest season in the country and in a collaborative way involving families of patients, kids, doctors, nurses or hospital staff speaking different languages. There was a lot of thing to do: washing the walls, protecting the floors, drawing the models I designed, coating colors in the correct order, washing the brushes, applying new coats, smoothing the outlines, washing again and always…

Thankfully, many staff members and patients, families of patients, kids, doctors, nurses contributed in the work! Handing a brush with a happy smile, a little bit of music, and a giant fan was my best move for making it collaborative! They wanted to be part of it and paint with my guidance, most of them never had a brush in their hands. I still remember the face of this young nurse pouring deep brushes of a bright purple paint on the wall for the very first time, ecstatic. Many patients were also just happy to sit and enjoy the show, look at the process of the murals shaping up.

I have this moving memory of two young girls recovering from a traffic accident. We were exchanging nothing but friendly smiles during long hours, they were lying in bed, me bending over the wall. When they had regained enough strength to leave the hospital, they came to me and thank me. They couldn't tell me why exactly, but their happy faces... And that's all what matters: being able to share emotions or good vibes through images that can be both soothing and stimulating, in a place housing patients and families in distress.