Street artist Stik raises £50,000 for Hospital

Pic: Stik's Sleeping Baby mural at Homerton Hospital. Credit: Homerton Hospital.

Pic: Street artist Stik and his ‘Sleeping Baby’ mural in the courtyard of  Homerton Hospital. Credit: Homerton Hospital.

Street artist Stik thought the NHS needed a bit of love and support so sold his art for Homerton Hospital, raising £50,000 for its art therapy programme.

The Hackney-based artist, the brains behind the UK’s tallest piece of street art, painted his Sleeping Baby mural in the hospital’s courtyard this summer. He then made 100 prints of the mural and donated them to the trust to sell.

“Homerton has kept me and my friends healthy for many years and I hope it will continue to do so for years to come,” Stik told EastLondonLines.

“I have always tried to improve and celebrate the neighbourhood through street art and this sale is an extension of my love for our neighbourhood. The doctors and nurses work well beyond what they are paid to do and I wanted to show our appreciation for their hard work.”

The money raised from the prints will go towards Homerton’s art programme, which incorporates specialist art workshops for long stay patients with brain injuries, as well as workshops for elderly patients with dementia.

Shaun Caton, Homerton Hospital’s Art Curator was “delighted” to see how much the artist values his local hospital.

‘This is an act of tremendous generosity from Stik, whose work has great popular appeal within the hospital. Gestures like this go to show that art is not elitist and can significantly enhance and improve the environment of a hospital courtyard, providing a landmark, which is both fun and poignant,” said Caton.

The mural in the central courtyard of Homerton Hospital shows a sleeping baby set against the NHS blue of the nurse’s uniforms

“The people made the NHS. It is our baby and it’s not for sale. [The mural] is in solidarity with all the people who are fighting to keep the NHS public and safe from predatory capitalism,” the artist explained.

Tim Melville-Ross, Chairman of Homerton Hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are extremely grateful to Stik for supporting our arts programme with the generous gift of these limited prints. This is a fantastic gesture made better by the fact that the original work of art can be seen by anybody visiting our hospital.”

Stik’s most famous work is Big Mother, a 125-foot tall drawing of a mother and child which runs up the entirety of the Charles Hocking House council estate in Acton.

Stik published a book of his works in August this year, simply called ‘Stik,’ but will be focusing on some new works in the near future.

“I am going back to painting in the street for a bit now. After a year writing the book and doing this project I have to go back to my roots.”

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