Mt Druitt mural brings outside in

Patients, visitors and staff who enter Mount Druitt Hospital through the main foyer could be mistaken for thinking they had stepped into the countryside with the recent installation of a 7.45 metre mural created by western Sydney artist Thanh Tam Cao.
 
Called After the Rain, the artwork depicts the local Moonrise Lookout, located in the suburb of Abbotsbury in south-west Sydney.
 
Blacktown Mount Druitt Hospital (BMDH) general manager Sue-Anne Redmond said the foyer mural has revitalised the busy area.
 
“It helps make the stressful and unfamiliar environment of hospital more welcoming and inviting.
 
“It’s great to see our patients, visitors and staff enjoying art that depicts the local landscape,” Sue-Anne said.
 
“Tam’s work has certainly added the final touches to the new entrance to Mount Druitt Hospital, opened last year as part of the Blacktown and Mount Druitt Hospital expansion project.”
 
Tam Cao was commissioned to create the work after being selected by the BMDH Expansion Project’s Art and Culture Program from more than 80 artists.
 
“Part of the brief was to bring a feeling of nature and space into the hospital,” Tam said.
 
“I created the paintings onsite and went out early in the morning with four small panels to look at the natural light rather than paint from photographs.
 
“I liked the idea of using Moonrise Lookout because it’s recognisable and it’s part of the wider Western Sydney Parklands,” Tam said.
 

About Tam

 Tam studied at the East Sydney Academy of Art and the Julian Ashton Art School winning a scholarship in 2010.  In 2012 Tam was approved into the Pop-up Parramatta; a project dedicated to injecting creative enterprise into unused buildings.
 

Art snapshot

Name: After the Rain by Thanh Tam Cao
Details: Digital print on acrylic from original work acrylic on board
Size: 7.45metres
Location: Mt Druitt Hospital main foyer