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The Francis Crick Institute, A Drop of Hope

A Drop of Hope was a participatory art project using voices of the community to transform a vaccination centre at the Francis Crick Institute into an evolving display of poetry and colour. Thousands of visitor contributions, reflecting on their experience of the pandemic and receiving their vaccine were collected to inspire the work of 12 poets in residence. These poems formed the basis of our layered and dynamic spatial collage. New poems and colours were added over time, reflecting how the individual actions of those coming to be vaccinated contribute to a larger cumulative effort.

The objective was to positively enhance the experience of visitors to the vaccination centre, building trust and tackling vaccine hesitancy within the local community. The primary target audiences were people over the age of 65, as well as at-risk groups and local residents. The project aimed to reflect local communities by including pieces from Somali and Bengali poets alongside English ones. The visual language, structures and fixing mechanism took inspiration from the now eerily familiar temporary Covid signage, while the bright and friendly colour palette subverted these associations. Based on a deconstructed rainbow, a symbol of hope and solidarity during the pandemic, the installation was conceived to be welcoming and accessible in order to reduce potential anxieties surrounding vaccines.

In 2022 the project won a prestigious D&AD award and was recognised by the WHO as a case study for innovative concepts to communicate science during COVID-19.

Date
2021
Photography
Andrew Meredith

A display of brightly-coloured text panels fixed to the exterior windows, columns and railings of a building.

A close-up of a cluster of blue and green panels fixed to windows and columns of a building, with black text printed on them in English and Bengali.

A pair of bold, brightly coloured signs attached to the exterior of The Francis Crick Institute building, for their Drop of Hope exhibition. The pink sign reads “memories never made” in black text, while the orange sign is partially visible, attached to a cylindrical concrete pillar.

A display of yellow and green panels fixed to structures on a building's exterior, each panel has a piece of text printed on it in black type.

A close-up detail of a yellow panel fixed using black seatbelt strapping to a stainless steel vertical bar.

A photograph capturing the shadow of a metal framework cast onto a cylindrical concrete pillar. The shadow creates a patterned design on the grey surface.

A cluster of yellow, green and blue panels fixed to the exterior of the building. Each panel has text printed, some in English and some in Bengali.

A close-up of an artistic statement by Momtaza Mehri, printed on a bright yellow panel with black text. The statement is written in multiple languages, including English and Bengali, describing reflections on time and the pandemic. The panel is part of a larger installation at the Francis Crick Institute.