| ||
| Vol. 23, No. 4 |
| March 1, 2001 |
|
Art - A Universal Language By KATHLEEN CHARTER Texas Medical Center News Art is an important support tool in a child's healing process during times of illness. It imparts a healthy, normal environment, and transforms a place that can be scary into a safe, reassuring place. A new permanent exhibit at Texas Children's Hospital titled Connecting Mothers, Children, and Continents: Art from Africa, is at home on the second-floor skywalk that connects from Texas Children's Abercrombie Building to the Feigin Center. The exhibit is part of the Secure the Future Art Exchange Program, a partnership between the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The program has three major components: (1) collection and exhibition of artwork by Houston children affected by HIV/AIDS in centers across southern Africa; (2) creation of permanent exhibitions of artwork by African women and children affected by HIV/AIDS at Texas Children's Hospital and at Bristol-Myers Squibb's Princeton, N.J. headquarters; and (3) creation of an Ambassador Doll, a simple muslin doll created by children in Houston with HIV/AIDS, who will travel throughout the United States, Africa, and the world offering friendship and hope to HIV-infected children everywhere. Dr. Mark Kline, professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the BIPAI, said Bristol-Myers Squibb became associated with Texas Children's when they provided grant funding a few years ago. "The grants provided funds for health professional education and clinical research in Latin America," Dr. Kline said. "When they developed the Secure the Future program in Africa, they asked us to give them some advice and guidance, and we subsequently became part of the program." Dr. Kline said of the $100 million that Bristol-Myers Squibb has marked for Secure the Future, BIPAI has received approximately $10 million to fund their activities, which include research in pediatric HIV/AIDS, professional health education for both doctors and nurses, and development of the Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Center of Excellence. The new exhibit features art by women and children from Botswana and South Africa. The art was produced in schools, hospitals, orphanages and community centers, and the artists include not only those who have suffered illness and those affected by HIV and AIDS, but also those who are healthy and want to see their art helping others. Secure the Future has focused its program on five African countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, because these five countries have among the highest prevalence rates of HIV anywhere in the world.
"The artwork on display here is from Botswana and South Africa," said Dr. Kline. We could have gone to 100 different institutions across the regions, but because of time and expense constraints, we decided to focus on several institutions in a couple of the representative countries. Ultimately, there are plans to include the other countries." Pamela Marquis, Project Director for The Art of Texas Children's Hospital, and Helen Currier, a registered nurse who works in renal dialysis at Texas Children's and an Art Selection Committee member, made the 10-day trip to Africa to gather the art that is on display. The objective was to change a space from a sterile, cold environment to a warm inviting place to spend time, Marquis said. For five years, the former space was beige with fluorescent lights, and even though it was an interesting bridge, there really was not much to see. "Our goal was to create a healthy, normal environment, which is important to our hospital's patients and their families. When a parent or child takes five seconds to stop and look at the artwork, that's five seconds away from the stress of an illness," Marquis said. "This project is really more important than just cute pictures on the wall. That it looks marvelous is wonderful, but it serves so many other purposes." "We had a psychologist come through and say, `Oh, I wish we had a tape of the bridge with people's faces before and after the transformation. People are more animated now as they cross, and have pleasant expressions on their faces,'" said Marquis, who has been the Art Selection Committee advisor since 1991. Now, the space is adorned with 32 different colors.
"It was made to be a sophisticated space that evolves as you move through it," Marquis said. "As you walk through this skywalk, one of the things you notice is the commonalities in the artwork and the toys that the children make. You realize that there are a lot of universal elements to this. We thought that this would help emphasize the connectedness of people with HIV around the world. These objects - these individual drawings and paintings - really bring it home," Dr. Kline said. Communication was not a barrier to the project. Marquis and Currier had an unofficial interpreter, and were able to learn a small part of the language along the way. "They taught us Zulu. It was a cultural exchange in a lot of ways," Currier said. Networking was an essential part of the trip's gathering process. "We didn't overlook a single opportunity to network," Currier said. "If we were in a market and saw a doll, we did whatever was necessary to make the connection. Other Americans would overhear our conversations and connect us to other groups they were working with. It was great." The only supplies taken to Africa were for the doll-making projects, where muslin dolls were painted by African patients, health care professionals and students. The dolls created represent the artists'emotions, and some of them are now on display in the lobby of Texas Children's Abercrombie Building. "We often sat with the children in available kitchens and in alleys behind hospitals, painting the dolls on sheets," Marquis said. Marquis and Currier wanted to set up a connection so people in this country could relate and understand the magnitude of the African AIDS problem. Dr. Kline said, "I think that there is a perception that Africa is so different and Africans are so different than most of us, that somehow AIDS doesn't have the impact. We really wanted to personalize the worldwide nature of this epidemic. We really wanted to emphasize the human connection - to show that these are real individuals - they are women, they are children, and they have a great deal in common with us." HIV/AIDS numbers are far greater in Africa than the United States. The strain of virus that circulates in Africa is more easily transmitted heterosexually, as well as from mother to baby, than the strain that circulates in the United States. Across southern Africa, where Secure the Future has focused its program, 25 to 35 percent of women of childbearing age are HIV positive. In the same United States demographic group, the rate is one per 1,000. "Seventy to 80 percent of all new cases of HIV worldwide occur in Africa, and 90 percent of all children born with HIV are born in Africa," said Dr. Kline. Marquis said that this trip was also one of discovery. She discovered that orphans are numerous and grandparents often are raising children because the parents, or center generations, are already gone. In addition, the gap being taken up by the grandparents is quickly diminishing. "Many of the women who are infected have been thrown out of the house. They are on their own and don't have any way to earn income. These art projects become income producers," Marquis said. Currier said that people embraced them because of this project. The strength of the human spirit and the connection people were able to make through art were inspiring. She said that the African people were very welcoming. They were proud of their roots and proud of where they were in their personal lives. "The richness of the culture was overwhelming. I have never been in that rich of a culture. The people were lovely to us, and it was amazing to see so many cultures co-existing," said Currier. "It was very moving for us to see the impact we made on them. I could see self-esteem building."
When they first arrived at Nkosi's Haven, a shelters known for keeping infected mothers and children together (normally they are separated), Currier said the general feeling was of heaviness. Once they started the project, it was freeing for the patients, Currier said. "We treated them as people we weren't afraid of, wanted to tell their story, and were open to them. They donated wonderful embroidery work to us," she said. Marquis added that even women who didn't embroider really got involved in the projects by embroidering their life stories. "One woman said that even when her legs hurt so badly she couldn't get out of bed, embroidery was the one thing that she could get lost in. The rhythm of the small embroidery motions was very calming to her," said Marquis. "At Nkosi's Haven, the embroidery teacher told them that their projects could be income producing. We were able to validate that fact. They got so excited and couldn't believe it was real - we were actually taking their stuff to America," added Currier. "It was affirming to see how much an art program could be uplifting. Art is a universal language." For more information about the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and the Secure the Future Art Exchange Program, visit the BIPAI Web site at http://www.bayloraids.com. Editor's note: During the interview with Marquis and Currier, several people stopped to tell them that a group of school children recently visited the exhibit and were very moved by what they saw. They were inspired by how much these artists accomplished with so few material items and so much imagination.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/03_01_01/page_02.html |
