One Thousand Thank Yous

Location

Gloucestershire

Client

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust

Team

Fabrication: Caesarcraft

Year
2017

Photos

Duncan Stevenson

One Thousand Thank Yous is a large scale hanging installation located within the entrance atrium of the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. The installation takes the form of a large gold heart constructed from 1000 gold anodised aluminium gift tags. The gift tags have been engraved with heartfelt messages of thanks collected from previous donor recipients. The heart shape has been chosen as it is one of the most common forms of organ transplant, providing the gift of life to hundreds of people each year.

The installation gently moves in the light of the atrium. Each gold tag acts as a pendulum, shimmering and reflecting the light, moving independently to its neighbour but collectively creating the impression of the heart as a single living organism. It provides a quiet place of reflection for current, past and future organ donors and recipients and their families, as well and hospital visitors and workers. It is hoped it will also act as a subtle but thoughtful prompt, encouraging members of the community to sign up to the organ donor register.

One Thousand Thank Yous is a dynamic and constantly evolving installation, its story has just begun. A number of the gold tags­ have been left blank, ready to receive the messages of future organ recipients. Each year the sculpture will be added to with new messages from organ donation recipients until the full One Thousand Thank Yous are collected and archived within the heart.

The 1000 gift tags were stamped from aluminium sheet and gold anodised. Each tag is attached to a 1mm diameter steel wire. The tags are suspended from a 3m x 2m Trespa ellipse which has been bolted to the existing structure of the atrium. The lengths of the wires range from 1m to 4m, with each length mapped to a specific point on the ellipse in order form the overall heart shape.

The work was commissioned by the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Organ Donation Committee.