Greenshoots Calendar 2012

‘Nothing can be more therapeutic to the Mind than appealing images Nature’s spontaneous wonders.’ This was the premise behind the year-long SLaM Greenshoots Project which spanned the four seasons from Autumn 2010 to Summer 2011, resulting in a Calendar poster for 2012.  

SLaM Members’ Council, through the Make me Smile and Make me Smile Again schemes, helped fund the Greenshoots Calendar, which can now be seen around the Trust and further afield.

Greenshoots Project was the brainchild of photographer, artist and formerservice user Gabriel Ibarra.  His idea was to display a cross-section of nature’s miracles as seen through the eyes of staff, service users and interested others. The project was organised by Helen Shearn, Arts Development manager in SLaM, while artist Tony Woods-McLean contributed its title, poster and website design.  
Understandably, a large proportion of the material submitted was shot around the Maudsley and Bethlem grounds, the participants ranging from a youth on a CAMHS ward to an artist in her 90s.  

With over 450 images submitted (190 from the Bethlem Royal Mother and Baby Unit alone!) it was difficult choosing the most impressive, but a shortlist of 108 was finally whittled down to the 67 pictures shown.

Once the calendar was printed, the final task was its distribution. Some of the 1000 prints were mailed but the majority hand-delivered by Gabriel Ibarra himself – not only within SLaM but also to Kings, Guys and St Thomas’s among other hospitals. Anyone who met Gabriel then will have been impressed by his bounding enthusiasm for the project. Copies also spread to various art, photography and community groups and even abroad through personal contacts.

It is hoped that a SlaM Calendar involving varying mental health aspects could become an annual event.

•     To see images of the poster and calendar photographs, go to: http://www.greenshootspix.moonfruit.com/