Before the NHS: A walk through East London’s medical past

In recognition and celebration of the 70th anniversary of the NHS, discover the traces of East London’s medical past. This map reveals the hidden relics of the hospitals that existed prior to the inception of the NHS, and links together St Bartholomew’s Hospital, The Royal London Hospital and  Mile End Hospital.

The map was commissioned for the 2018 Being Human Festival. The festival highlights the ways in which the humanities can inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world.

The Map was designed by Alban Low (artist), Richard Meunier (Archivist, The Royal
London Hospital Museum) and Harvey Wells (Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, Barts and the London School of Medicine).

Before the NHS:
A walk through East London’s
medical past
Designed by Alban Low, Richard Meunier, Harvey Wells
Published November 2018
ISBN  978-1-910578-91-9
Folded – A5 (148 x 210mm) 4 page
Flat – A3 (297 x 420mm) 1 Map
Colour
SLB0103
QMUL Being Human Map 1
Price – £2
BUY Before the NHS Map – £2 (+£1.20 P&P to a UK address)

Alban, Richard and Harvey launched the map at the Royal London Hospital Museum as part of the Being Human Festival 2018. As part of their research they walked the route and have made this film for you to enjoy.

Before the NHS: A walk through East London’s medical past from Alban Low on Vimeo.

A Life of Endings

9781910578131Today we launch a fantastic new 16 page colour book, A Life of Endings. This book is an insight into the hidden worlds of the Dissecting Room and the Gordon Museum of Pathology at King’s College London. It includes poetry by Kevin Acott and art from Alban Low, with featured sections by Dr Adam Wahba (Demonstrator), Jodie Acott (Medical Student) and Harvey Wells (Medical Educator). The book also includes a download code so that readers can listen to the music and poetry by Kevin Acott and Bill Mudge. Listen to the poetry at A Life of Endings Bandcamp page.

A Life of Endings: An Insight into the Hidden World of the Dissecting Room and Gordon Museum of Pathology at King’s College London 
ISBN  978-1910578131
16 pages A5 Softback
Authors – Kevin Acott, Alban Low and Harvey Wells
Contributors – Dr Adam Wahba, Jodie Acott and Bill Mudge
SLB0022
BUY A Life of Endings – £3 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address

Authors and Contributors
Dr Adam Wahba graduated from Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2012, having completed an Intercalated BSc in Anatomy and Human Sciences at King’s College London in 2010.  After completing Foundation Training in the East of England, he returned to King’s College to work as an Anatomy Demonstrator in 2014, during which time he passed the exams to become a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS).  He started an eight-year run-through training programme as a trainee Neurosurgeon in
August 2015 in Sheffield.

Jodie Acott is a fourth-year medical student at King’s College London, with a particular interest in psychiatry and women’s health. She completed an Intercalated BSc last year in Psychology – for which she won the John Weinman Prize – and is seeking eventually to work in General Practice. Jodie loves music and literature and was cursed at a very young age with a need to support Spurs.

Bill Mudge released his debut album, Skylight, in 2011 and the same year played alongside Kit Downes, Lewis Wright, Paul Booth, Tom White and Piers Green on Paul Jordanous’ debut album ‘And now I know’.“My main intention is to convey an emotion through each piece of music. When writing I’m generally inspired by books, films or people, using them as the subject matter to develop the idea, whilst considering how the group might play and interpret the music.“ Bill is an accomplished photographer as well as musician. See his work at mudgephoto.wordpress.com

Alban Low is the founder/director of the artists’ collective CollectConnect, who have exhibited more than 4000 images on streets worldwide. He is a familiar presence on the jazz circuit in London, where he sketches live and writes reviews. He exhibits widely from London to New York and has shown his work in over 100 exhibitions. His experimental films have been screened at festivals around the world, including the BFI London, Hamburg short film festival, and most recently the Morphos dome in Los Angeles, USA. He is a director at Sampson Low Ltd, who have been publishing books since 1793. He is Artist-in-Residence at the School of Nursing, Kingston University and St George’s, University of London.

Kevin Acott is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London. He writes poetry, short stories and film and album reviews at http://www.somethingaboutengland.co.uk. Kevin has had poems published at Ink, Sweat and Tears and short stories at The Londonist and Smoke: A London Peculiar. His first poetry collection was Put Your Lips Together (2014). His Great Unpublished Novel is both great and unpublished.

Harvey Wells is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London, and a Visiting Lecturer in Medical Education at King’s College London. Harvey identified the potential of this project during his teaching observations of demonstrators in the Dissection Room and his work with Alban on the Mental Health Simulations at Kingston University.

BUY A Life of Endings book

The Sunbury Dice Game: A Random Walk in the Sunbury Walled Garden

33%_Front_page_2 copyThe Sunbury Dice Game
A Random Walk in the Sunbury Walled Garden

Published April 2015
ISBN 978-1-910578-10-0
A3 fold out map
Author – Alban Low and Harvey Wells
SLB0018

BUY The Sunbury Dice Game – £2 (+£1.20 P&P to a UK address)

A random walk is a mathematical formalization of a path that consists of a succession of random steps. For example, the path traced by a molecule as it travels in a liquid or a gas, the search path of a foraging animal, the price of a fluctuating stock and the financial status of a gambler can all be modeled as random walks. The term random walk was first introduced by Karl Pearson in 1905 but random walks have been used in many fields: ecology, economics, psychology, computer science, physics, chemistry, and biology.

50%_Sunbury_dice_game_inner_2 copyThe definition of a random walk is dominated by a formula not by the act of walking, it exists mostly in the head not on a page let alone along a road. Alban Low and Harvey Wells give you the chance to put the random walk back on the map!

This map was inspired by The Dice Man novel published in 1971 by George Cockcroft under the pen name Luke Rhinehart. The book was based on Cockcroft’s own experiences of using dice to make decisions while studying psychology, the effect of this book and system used is one of subversivity and anti-psychiatry. The Sunbury Dice Walk is more of a repetitive adventure where the route becomes a maze. Alban and Harvey walked through the Sunbury Walled Garden armed just with a 6 sided dice to decide their route, their journey took 25 minutes in duration and 1km in length. In theory it could take you as little as 6 rolls of the dice to escape the Walled Garden or you could be stuck in there for infinity.

Harvey Wells and Alban Low have been walking and exhibiting together for 5 years. They have created art walks in London (SMartwalks), Chorlton (Chorlton Arts Festival), Cambridge (Art:Language:Location), Bath (Fringe Arts Bath) and Exeter (NOSE Festival). They featured in the AirSpace gallery’s Walking Encyclopaedia in 2014. They have already created and published one map, the Cambridge Blue Plaque Walk (ISBN: 978-0953471287).

To see more of Alban’s work visit his website at…
http://albanlow.com/

This map was first exhibited at the ‘On the map’ exhibition at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery, Sunbury-on-Thames in 2015.

 

Train or Ward? by Alban Low

Welcome to the first publication in our Poster/Pamphlet series.

Train_or_ward_coverTrain or Ward?
A five page A5 pamphlet that folds out into A3 poster in full colour.
The pack also includes one 5x7cm magnet from the NOSE exhibition 2014.

BUY Train or Ward – £2 (+ £1.20 P&P to UK address)

48 vignettes that document one-sided conversations heard on trains from around the UK and within a Simulated Mental Health ward at Kingston University and St George’s University London. Can you guess where each conversation originated?
These vignettes were first exhibited at the NOSE Festival in Exeter on the 29th March 2014 as a set of magnetic artworks each measuring 5 x 7cm. They were placed on lampposts and railings throughout the city, the public were invited to pick them up and collect or to leave for people to discover throughout the festival. Psychotherapist Harvey Wells joined artist Alban Low both in installing the magnets and in the simulated ward where they instigated their successful art programme.

33%_Train_ward_poster

Train or Ward Poster (A3)

Not Open Studios Exeter 2014 (NOSE) is a fringe event where the focus is on artworks and
artists working outside of the confines of studio-based practice. It reframes the City with elusive and surreptitious events, that includes site-sympathetic/specific interventions and installations; sensory journeys and acts of close observation; gestures, marks and interfaces.

“If you sit still long enough, just watch and listen, then people’s stories come to you, whether that is riding a bus or sitting in doctor’s waiting room. This project started as amusing illustrations for my facebook friends and has picked up speed ever since. The ‘Train or Ward’ exhibition aims to break down the oundaries by taking Art out of the gallery and into public spaces but also by challenging attitudes towards Mental Health in the community. The ‘normal’ lines are blurred, it is impossible to detect whether a conversation has originated from
the mental health ward or the local train. It is clear though that there is humour and pathos in abundance in both these environments.” Alban Low

ISBN  978-0-9534712-6-3
Folded – A5 (148 x 210mm) 4 page
Flat – A3 (297 x 420mm) 1 Poster
Colour
Signed by artist Alban Low on poster (Bottom right)
SLB0005 Each pack contains a 50x70mm magnet from the Train or Ward exhibition

BUY Train or Ward – £2 (+ £1.20 P&P to UK address)

Therapeutic Interventions For Mental Health Professionals – Harvey Wells

Harvey_book_1This is the first book in Sampson Low’s Professional Series.

Therapeutic Interventions For Mental Health Professionals
This book is designed to provide a framework within which a practioner can learn and develop the skills appropriate for working with clients with mental health problems. The approach within this book has been developed in clinical practice and refined in the process of teaching clinical skills to mental health professionals. It intergrates ideas from several schools of thought into a coherent structured approach suitable for engaging clients in meaningful therapeutic activities. This valuable publication is suitable for both qualified mental health professionals and those in training.

Harvey Wells BSc MSc MBPsS FHEA is a practising psychotherapist with over 15 years in the profession. He has worked with clients in the NHS, the voluntary services and in private practice. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, St George’s, University of London, and Kingston University.

Therapeutic-Interventions-Mental-Health-Professionals_harvey_WellsTherapeutic Interventions For Mental Health Professionals is a 86 page A4 softback book.
ISBN 978-0-9534712-4-9
SLB0003

BUY Therapeutic Interventions – £7 + £2.40 P&P to UK Address