18/02/2026
As children and young people move through hospital, from waiting rooms to wards, corridors to clinics, they are also journeying through life in deeply personal and emotional ways. Every young person’s hospital experience is unique, yet it is also something quietly shared.
As part of the redevelopment’s broader Arts, Play and Discovery initiative, the Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation (SCHF) Art Program was invited to deliver a patient-led artwork for the lifts. SCHF artist educators consulted with children and young people in hospital, and their feedback shaped the creative direction, highlighting a preference for bright colours, text and an element of gamification.
This inspired a collaboration with Sydney-based artist Nadia Odlum, who worked alongside patients across the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick and The Children's Hospital at Westmead to explore playful ways to move through space. In workshops, children and their families wrote down different ways of moving. These words were then shuffled and combined into surprising and delightful pairings such as 'floating-flop' and 'dancing-somersault'.
The result is a vibrant interactive artwork transforming an everyday lift ride into a space of creativity, imagination and play.
This story is featured in our recent FY25 Impact Report. Read more on our blog and explore the full report on our website: https://brnw.ch/21x029t
