Western Health

🎨Artworks bring colour, energy and community stories to Footscray Hospital. 🏥

Footscray Hospital is now home to 83 stunning artworks created by local artist Olana Janfa, titled Heal and Thrive.

Last year, Olana led a series of creative workshops with Footscray Hospital staff and volunteers, community members and local schools to inform the stories and themes of the artworks. These workshops were facilitated by Footscray Hospital’s official arts partner Footscray Community Arts.

Olana’s style is characterised by bright colours, layered textures, and a sense of joyful naivete which brings warmth, calmness, and positive distraction to the hospital environment.

Olana was born in Ethiopia, and says that “Melbourne’s west helps many immigrants navigate the complexities of settling in a new place. The sense of connection I have found here over the years is something I strive to replicate in my works, so that patients, visitors and staff of the new Footscray Hospital feel just as welcomed and valued as I did when I arrived in Footscray.”

Heal and Thrive was commissioned by the Plenary Health consortium in partnership with the project’s arts partner Footscray Community Arts, and in collaboration with Western Health and the Victorian Health Building Authority.