Name: Faith-based Responses to Epidemics
Location: Wellcome Collection

Watch a recording of this event with with GP Gavin Francis, who explores what it means to be a doctor caring for a society in crisis during a pandemic.

In conversation with writer Louise Welsh, Gavin discusses his deeply personal experience of a year caring for patients in rural and urban communities. The two speakers reflect on the ways in which the pandemic and its policy measures have compounded existing social inequalities and health concerns.

From treating patients in care homes to those in communal city stairways, Gavin and Louise reveal what care looks like in different contexts, what can be achieved when we care for each other, and the true cost of the pandemic.

Gavin Francis’s new book ‘Intensive Care’ is out now in hardback.

Gavin Francis has worked across four continents as a surgeon, emergency physician, medical officer with the British Antarctic Survey and latterly as a GP; he has described the pandemic response of 2020 as the most intense period of his 20-year career in medicine. He’s the author of the Sunday Times bestseller ‘Adventures in Human Being’, which was a BMA Book of the Year, and ‘Shapeshifters’. His books have won the SMIT Scottish Book of the Year Award, the Saltire Award for Non-Fiction and been shortlisted for the Ondaatje and Costa Prizes. He also writes for the Guardian, The Times, the London Review of Books and Granta. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and children.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/aecb99f1e6190b259f0b733962fd302730cbd587_009_tf_170516_00080222.jpg?auto=compress,format

Gavin Francis

gavinfrancis.com

@gavinfranc on Twitter

Speaker

Louise Welsh is the author of eight novels, most recently the Plague Times Trilogy, a series of books exploring a contemporary pandemic (2017). Louise has received several awards and international fellowships, including a Doctor of Arts from both Edinburgh Napier University and the Open University, and an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Her new novel, ‘The Second Cut’, will be published by Canongate Books in 2022. Louise is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/8afda39d-614e-4b45-83b6-1f5c3ba37637_Louise+Welsh+by+Julie+Broadfoot.jpeg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,300,300&w=3200&h=3200

Louise Welsh

@louisewelsh00 on Twitter

Facilitator

<p>A chance to hear about and talk about ideas with others.</p>

Discussion

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/4ec56cd7-51ff-4b7d-b024-9ea55bca287d_EP_001456_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=3,0,3994,2662&w=4000&h=2666

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/4ec56cd7-51ff-4b7d-b024-9ea55bca287d_EP_001456_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,186,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

Care, Community and Community in Covid-19 with GP Gavin Francis

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/4ec56cd7-51ff-4b7d-b024-9ea55bca287d_EP_001456_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,330,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/4ec56cd7-51ff-4b7d-b024-9ea55bca287d_EP_001456_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=928,0,2666,2666&w=3200&h=3200

This event will have live speech-to-text transcription which may be useful for people who are D/deaf, hard of hearing, deafened or neurodiverse. The text will be embedded in the event video window and ticketholders will also receive a link to open subtitles in a separate window.

Speech-to-text

Watch a recording of a conversation between GP Gavin Francis and writer Louise Welsh to hear about Gavin’s deeply personal experience of a year caring for patients in rural and urban communities during the pandemic.

Intensive Care with Dr Gavin Francis

Watch a recording of this online event with artist Amanda Couch to explore skin and screens, surfaces that can both unite and connect us, but also shield and separate us. Skin is an intermediary between us and the world, our channel for connection through touch. Our increasing dependence on screens during the pandemic is facilitating social connectedness, while protecting us from the risks of proximity and exposure to touch.

Amanda considers the screen as a stand-in for our skin, supporting us to “keep in touch” in more than one sense. Alongside the talk, a prerecorded video is shown showcasing new artworks from Amanda exploring these ideas.

Amanda Couch is an award-winning artist, researcher and senior lecturer whose practices cut across media: performance, sculpture, photography, print and the book, food, the everyday, participation, and writing to research and reimagine histories of the body.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/f168322ac3f8e135b05933fa82913c074d52b154_amanda_couch-channelling-veronica.jpg?auto=compress,format

Amanda Couch

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/380b0f69-d9a5-4354-a185-70e25bd4366f_EP_001475_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/380b0f69-d9a5-4354-a185-70e25bd4366f_EP_001475_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

Library Insights: The surfaces of skin and screens. Photo: Thomas SG Farnetti. Film stills on tablet screens courtesy of the artist © Amanda Couch

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/380b0f69-d9a5-4354-a185-70e25bd4366f_EP_001475_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,188,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/380b0f69-d9a5-4354-a185-70e25bd4366f_EP_001475_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=875,0,2250,2250&w=3200&h=3200

Watch a recording of this online event with artist Amanda Couch to explore skin and screens, surfaces that can both unite and connect us, but also shield and separate us. Amanda showcases some of her new artwork to explore these ideas.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/18eb8cec966dd02e7c01920a80fa82e4a926d0e6_c0136121.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a53bee69998cd8775deff549be90aed30123b841_c0136121.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a528c54eca98dab0fcf78bcd063c7362f9d17c57_c0136121.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/49d5cec76b66c211b158c8da78b887a84fc1e85f_c0136121.jpg?auto=compress,format

Hear from researchers and Wellcome Collection staff about the stories that they unearthed in our collections, and take a closer look at some of the items they discovered.

Library Insights

The Surfaces of Skin and Screens

Watch a recording of this live talk with poet, writer and researcher Jamie Hale and five fellow disabled artists.

They reflect on their different experiences and practices, and ask what it means to be a D/deaf or disabled artist in a pandemic.

The artists talk for 45 minutes, and then there are 15 minutes of questions and answers.

Captions are provided by Stagetext, and BSL interpretation is delivered by Michelle Wood.

A series of articles by Jamie Hale exploring ‘Art, activism and access’, and featuring all of the artists taking part in this event, is also available to read and listen to.

Jamie is an artist, curator, and founder of disability arts showcase CRIPtic. They create poetry, comedy, scriptwriting and drama for page, stage and screen. They have written for publications including the Guardian and Magma, and have performed at venues including the Barbican and Southbank Centre. Their pandemic poetry pamphlet, ‘Shield’, is published in January 2021.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ab85dbc6-05a4-4af2-b66a-509d31380e41_Jamie+Headshot.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,266,1068,1068&w=3200&h=3200

Jamie Hale

@jamierhale on Twitter

Host

Amelia Cavallo is a blind theatre practitioner, academic and workshop facilitator who works as a multi-disciplinary performer, musical director, lecturer and consultant on access and audio description. They are a PhD candidate studying intersections of gender, disability and sexuality. Amelia co-founded Quiplash, a theatre company making space for Disabled people across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/25d9a4d2-2e52-4215-9767-e1118d2df115_Amelia+Cavallo+Headshot.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,90,360,360&w=3200&h=3200

Amelia Cavallo

Miss Jacqui is a poet and songwriter who performed at the 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony, and at venues including the Southbank Centre. She knows a lot about working with the cards that you are dealt, and always tries to challenge societal perceptions, like what it means to be a Black woman with a disability.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/9566751a-e9c3-4922-a964-b1bd249f31f8_Miss+Jacqui+Headshot.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=200,0,1200,1200&w=3200&h=3200

Miss Jacqui

Born in Essex in 1959, Keith Salmon studied Fine Art at Shrewsbury and Falmouth Schools of Art in the early 1980s. Registered as blind in 1999, he now works from his studio in Irvine, Scotland and exhibits his semi-abstract landscape paintings throughout the UK.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ae769b67-00f0-4352-abed-b82989fe0ab8_Keith+Headshot.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=266,0,1067,1067&w=3200&h=3200

Keith Salmon

Emma Selwyn graduated from Access All Areas’ 2016 Performance Making Diploma at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Their work includes ‘My Hands and Feet are Wiggling’ (2016), ‘#Binariesbegone’ (2019), ’Not F**kin’ Sorry’ at Soho Theatre with Not Your Circus Dog (2019), and ‘unReal City’ at Battersea Arts Centre with Access All Areas and dreamthinkspeak (2020).

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/79a97151-e2b8-4f04-8f92-433b04c71d16_Emma+Xandri+Selwyn.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,1,535,535&w=3200&h=3200

Emma/Xandri Selwyn in rehearsals for the virtual reality production of unReal City at Battersea Arts Centre, March 2020

Emma Selwyn

Signkid is the UK’s first and only Deaf music producer, writer and performer, pioneering a unique aesthetic that integrates British Sign Language signing into a visual language for live hip-hop, rap and urban music. SignKid has performed at festivals including Deaf Rave, Wireless and Latitude, and has had extensive BBC coverage.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/8ea156a0-270e-4877-82dc-4264df143ac1_SignKid+Headshot.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,200,1200,1200&w=3200&h=3200

Signkid

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/b25b6349-5405-41a1-8c63-1dbe5733d75b_srgb_TF_200708_00010002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=3,0,3994,2662&w=4000&h=2666

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/b25b6349-5405-41a1-8c63-1dbe5733d75b_srgb_TF_200708_00010002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,328,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/b25b6349-5405-41a1-8c63-1dbe5733d75b_srgb_TF_200708_00010002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,345,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/b25b6349-5405-41a1-8c63-1dbe5733d75b_srgb_TF_200708_00010002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=669,0,2666,2666&w=3200&h=3200

This event is British Sign Language interpreted. An interpreter will be embedded in the event stream/visible to all attendees and will interpret what is discussed into BSL for d/Deaf, hard of hearing and deafened attendees.

British Sign Language

Watch this online conversation where Jamie Hale and five fellow disabled artists reflect on their different experiences and practices.

D/deaf and Disabled Artists on Making Work Now

14 to 19-year-olds

Watch a recording of a discussion on young people’s approaches to mental health, wellbeing and self-care in the time of Covid-19. Facilitators Alain ‘Fusion’ Clapham and Grace Gatera hosted a live discussion based on videos of youth mental health research and linked creative projects, which were shown during the event. Also on the panel were five RawMinds ambassadors, to provide the perspective of young people.

This event discussed the work of Wellcome's mental health priority area, which seeks to transform how we understand, fund, prevent and treat anxiety and depression in young people. You will also find out more about the Covid Living project from creative producer Tim Partridge, poet Koleka Putuma and illustrator Ivyy Chen, which explored how young people were coping with lockdown in April to June 2020. At the end of the event there was an opportunity for questions and discussion. 

This event was hosted through the videoconferencing platform BlueJeans.

Alain is an experienced educator, creative producer and a lead facilitator for YouTube. He empowers thousands of young people to better navigate the digital landscape – while also helping award-winning CEOs discover their own stories of transformation. Alain is founder of @BMTstories – an immersive live and online experience celebrating the “awesome everyday” stories of black men and women. 

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/644650e0-154e-4127-a21d-02e04784bade_Alain+%27Fusion%27+Clapham.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,446,446&w=3200&h=3200

Alain ‘Fusion’ Clapham

@BMTstories

alainclapham.co.uk

Grace is a lived-experience mental health advocate living in Kigali, Rwanda. She works with Wellcome’s mental health priority area (MHPA) as a lived-experience expert adviser, and is also part of their strategic advisory board.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/30a6349d-458d-4b81-bdeb-74b543bf9cee_Grace+Gatera.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,300,300&w=3200&h=3200

Grace Gatera

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ce12e340-1d92-432a-999e-88aef3573998_EP001461_Alain_Clapham_0003+Final.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=1,0,3997,2668&w=4000&h=2670

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ce12e340-1d92-432a-999e-88aef3573998_EP001461_Alain_Clapham_0003+Final.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,209,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

Young People, Mental Health and Recipes for Self-care - Alain 'Fusion' Clapham

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ce12e340-1d92-432a-999e-88aef3573998_EP001461_Alain_Clapham_0003+Final.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,397,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ce12e340-1d92-432a-999e-88aef3573998_EP001461_Alain_Clapham_0003+Final.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=651,0,2670,2670&w=3200&h=3200

Watch a recording of a discussion on young people’s approaches to mental health, wellbeing and self-care in the time of Covid-19.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/ce12e340-1d92-432a-999e-88aef3573998_EP001461_Alain_Clapham_0003+Final.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=666,0,2670,2670&w=3200&h=3200

This series of events explores how young people have experienced Covid-19 and lockdown so far, putting their voices at the centre of the discussion.

What Does It Mean To Be Young, Now?

Young People, Mental Health and Recipes for Self-care

Watch a recording of a conversation between climate activist Daze Aghaji and writer and podcaster Natasha Lipman as they reflect on their recent experiences of balancing personal wellbeing with supporting their communities. 

Natasha shares her own experience of chronic illness with others, while Daze advocates for climate justice, but they have been reflecting on similar questions: where does self-care end and community care begin? And how do you find a balance between the two? 

Please note that the audio description is not an additional track; instead the host and speakers describe themselves and any key visual elements they refer to. 

Natasha Lipman is a chronic illness blogger and part-time journalist from London. On her blog, you can find her interviewing people who are doing amazing things in the disability space, exploring inclusive fashion and working with experts to create practical advice about living with chronic illness. You can also find her on Instagram and Twitter. 

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/dd6493c3-a00b-44b3-b431-851bd56b715e_EP1228_2481.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,2649,2649&w=3200&h=3200

Natasha Lipman

natashalipman.com

Daze Aghaji is a 20-year-old climate justice activist and student. She studies history and politics at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2019 she ran for election in the EU Parliamentary elections (being the youngest candidate to do so) and she has strong ties with Extinction Rebellion. The main areas of Daze’s activism are regenerative cultures, intersectionality, environment, youth political engagement and social-change funding. Daze has recently become a trustee at Blagrave Trust. 

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/02dc43dd-382a-420d-84c2-a5d68b265cd0_Daze+Aghaji+bio.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,200,200&w=3200&h=3200

Daze Aghaji, Photo: Thomas S.G. Farnetti. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Daze Aghaji

@Dazeaghaji on Twitter

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/3edbd883-9fda-4a3b-98d2-1bfe64442c92_EP_001448_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/3edbd883-9fda-4a3b-98d2-1bfe64442c92_EP_001448_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,153,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

Supporting ourselves in changing times. Speaker Portrait. Daze Aghaji (left) and Natasha Lipman (Right)

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/3edbd883-9fda-4a3b-98d2-1bfe64442c92_EP_001448_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,394,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/3edbd883-9fda-4a3b-98d2-1bfe64442c92_EP_001448_0001.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=669,0,2667,2667&w=3200&h=3200

The host and speakers will describe themselves and key visual elements they refer to, which may be useful for blind, partially sighted and neurodiverse attendees. There will not be a separate audio description track.

Audio described

Watch a recording of a conversation between climate activist Daze and writer/podcaster Natasha discussing how they balance personal wellbeing with supporting their communities.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a906b0a4-741c-4b7b-ace9-4634840d06dd_EP_001453_0002.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a906b0a4-741c-4b7b-ace9-4634840d06dd_EP_001453_0002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,255,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a906b0a4-741c-4b7b-ace9-4634840d06dd_EP_001453_0002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,463,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a906b0a4-741c-4b7b-ace9-4634840d06dd_EP_001453_0002.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=669,0,2667,2667&w=3200&h=3200

Supporting Ourselves in Changing Times

A series of conversations between people with different life experiences who have had to find ways to support themselves and their communities during a global pandemic.

Supporting Ourselves

Supporting Ourselves While Supporting Our Communities

Listen to this talk with Wellcome Collecton curators Shamita Sharmacharja and Emily Sargent as they discuss upcoming installations by artists Kerry Tribe and Sop. You will be able to see these artworks when we reopen our museum and library.       

After an introduction by Melanie Keen, Director of Wellcome Collection, you’ll hear pre-recorded discussions with Shamita and Emily in the gallery, filmed during the installation of the artworks. Shamita discusses how Kerry Tribe’s ‘Standardized Patient’ highlights the need for empathy between patients and doctors in a clinical setting. Emily will explore Sop’s ‘The Den 1’, uncovering their experience as a shielder during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how they sought respite in nature. Their discussions will explore connections between both artists’ works. 

At the end of the event there is a discussion between Melanie, Shamita and Emily.  The event is live captioned by Stagetext. 

This conversation mentions of end-of-life care.

This event was originally live-streamed on 15 December 2020.

Melanie Keen is Director of Wellcome Collection. She was previously Director and Chief Curator at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), where she was instrumental in the revitalisation of Iniva’s mission and vision. Melanie is an independent advisor to the Government Art Collection, sits on the British Council’s Visual Arts Advisory Group, and was on the selection committee for the British Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2019. She was one of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2020 and has recently been appointed to the Board of Visitors of Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/b2e12e78-f1a2-464a-bd5a-c1702d6778c9_EP_001084_041.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,200,200&w=3200&h=3200

Melanie Keen

Emily Sargent is Senior Curator at Wellcome Collection. She has curated numerous large exhibitions on a wide range of subjects, including 'Living with Buildings' (October 2018–March 2019), and exhibitions on human enhancement and the experience of consciousness.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/d98e04ec51220f341fc27f8c71ee0fa96e448b8b_c0143808.jpg?auto=compress,format

Emily Sargent

Shamita Sharmacharja is a curator at Wellcome Collection. In addition to ‘Play Well’, October 2019–March 2020, she has curated exhibitions with subject matter as diverse as health-related graphic design, forensic medicine and outsider art. 

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/da9d6187-4f94-4488-88d7-1e6d1063d367_Shamita+Sharmacharja+bio.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,0,200,200&w=3200&h=3200

Shamita Sharmacharja

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/7e6550a2-5e1f-42ac-bbb7-ea96d8d0db10_EP_curators_0006.jpg?auto=compress,format

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/7e6550a2-5e1f-42ac-bbb7-ea96d8d0db10_EP_curators_0006.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,276,4000,2250&w=3200&h=1800

Emily Sargent and Shamita Sharmacharja

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/7e6550a2-5e1f-42ac-bbb7-ea96d8d0db10_EP_curators_0006.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,342,4000,1875&w=3200&h=1500

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/7e6550a2-5e1f-42ac-bbb7-ea96d8d0db10_EP_curators_0006.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=724,12,2578,2578&w=3200&h=3200

The main panel discussion will be captioned by StageText, and the introduction and Q&A will be auto-captioned by Bluejeans, the videoconferencing platform.

Captioned

Join us for a talk with Wellcome Collecton curators Shamita Sharmacharja and Emily Sargent as they discuss upcoming installations by artists Kerry Tribe and Sop. You will be able to see these artworks when we reopen our museum and library on Tuesday 5 January 2021.

Curators Introduce Art by Kerry Tribe and Sop

Join us for a quick cup of coffee and a pastry, afternoon tea, or a light meal with a glass of wine.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/3062e92b-693f-4dd0-9435-f63d6bc370e7_SDP_20201005_0365-176-Edit.jpg?auto=compress,format

Café

Gallery tour

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/7657f9e9-0733-444d-b1b2-6ae0bafa0ff9_c7c94c39161dcfe15d9abd8b40256ea2b40f52b9_c0139861.jpg?auto=compress,format

Daily Guided Tours and Discussions

Join us for an evening of conversation, art and music reimagining the world we live in from the perspective of people with learning disabilities and autistic people: what would the world look like if it was designed by them? 

The artworks co-produced with the commissioned artists ask: who makes decisions about how the world is designed? How can design processes can be more inclusive and collaborative? 

You will be guided through four online artworks through prerecorded video tours, each led by the co-designers. The co-designers will talk about how they made these creative artworks collaboratively. You can also join in with live art-making, games and music. 

This event will be streamed on Wellcome Collection's YouTube channel. After booking a ticket, you will receive a confirmation email with joining instructions.    

You will be able to comment and ask questions live online using the chat function throughout the event. Your microphone and camera will be switched off for the whole session.    

The event will be live-captioned. The captions will be embedded onscreen. A link to open the captions in a separate window will be provided before/at the event. 

The event will have British Sign Language interpretation. The interpreters will be on screen throughout the event.    

This event celebrates the launch of ‘A Different Kind of Future’ online exhibition, in collaboration with Heart n Soul at The Hub, the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and the commissioned artists. It is the finale of the Inclusive Futures project, part of Heart n Soul at The Hub’s two-year residency at Wellcome Collection. Installations created during the residency include ‘Wall of Change’ and ‘Inclusive Futures’.

Jess Mabel Jones is a multidisciplinary artist and producer who makes work that is good fun, good looking and that strives to incite change. Growing from a place of joy, inclusivity and playful improvisation, her work is eclectic, visually dynamic and a little bit rowdy. Jess is neurodivergent.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/a87b1214-2314-47e7-8a4d-b76b32458bc1_Jess+photo.jpeg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,106,427,427&w=3200&h=3200

Jess Mabel Jones

jessmabeljones.com

Ariel Botto is an artist from Heart n Soul. Creator of the famous ‘Panda Emoji’ t-shirts, his art reflects his interests in popular culture, nostalgia, businesses, logos, design and how they change and evolve over time. He has hosted many events before, including Heart n Soul’s Squidz Club, ‘Our Own Thing’ for the London Symphony Orchestra and the launch of a Google Arts and Culture exhibition. He also enjoys making parody songs and doing voice acting.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/f9baa51e-e2ad-4848-97c1-bcda0e4eb6ab_Ariel+photo.jpeg?auto=compress,format&rect=373,0,1680,1680&w=3200&h=3200

Ariel Botto

Ariel at Heart n Soul

Aysen is a visual artist. She describes what she does as “beautiful colours”. Aysen’s work has been exhibited at Tate Britain and the Never Bored exhibitions. She creates live visual responses for events and has collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra, Cafe Oto and most recently with one of her favourite bands, Electric Fire.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/7205f83e-8a49-4875-9bc4-a648b8e8231e_Aysen+photo.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,128,768,768&w=3200&h=3200

Aysen

Aysen at Heart n Soul

Castro is a Heart n Soul DJ and has a regular show on Soho Radio. He likes listening to all sorts of music. He likes the technical side of DJing too, like making speaker boxes and repairing amplifiers. He also likes making electronic projects. His next project is making a lamp out of speaker switches. 

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/31b03e6e-35d7-4eb1-94cc-3cf295c7ca0f_Castro+photo+copy.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,504,3024,3024&w=3200&h=3200

Castro

Castro at Heart n Soul Radio

Robyn is an artist, musician, author, researcher, autism trainer and broadcaster. She plays the trumpet and has a residency at Cafe Oto, where she hosts Robyn’s Rocket, an immersive night of improvised music. She is also an honorary research associate at UCL (University College London), has written three books and is the host of the BBC podcast ‘1800 Seconds on Autism’. She is a Core Team member at Heart n Soul at The Hub and an associate artist at Heart n Soul.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/6b9a8276-175d-49d4-b848-102ec6e90156_Robyn+photo.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,752,3008,3008&w=3200&h=3200

Robyn Steward

robynsteward.com

@robyn_steward on Twitter

Thomas is an artist, poet and sculptor. He likes going out in nature and the countryside, and spending time with friends. He loves theatre, drama and dance. He finds these ways of expressing yourself visually are important when it’s hard to tell someone and thinks it can have a bigger impact on people too.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/c8469a3b-005d-49e5-a017-7fd060333601_Thomas+photo.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,80,480,480&w=3200&h=3200

Thomas

Rajah is a DJ for Heart n Soul and likes music. He likes thinking about transport and how it can be made better for disabled people. 

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/3ea20d4a-d474-4788-96aa-e63eb0c071ba_Rajah+photo.JPG?auto=compress,format&rect=170,0,619,619&w=3200&h=3200

Rajah

Rajah on Heart n Soul Radio

Dr Chris McGinley is an award-winning designer, researcher and writer, and Senior Research Fellow at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD), based at the Royal College of Art. He leads the Age and Diversity research space at the HHCD, which has pioneered innovative approaches combining empathy and design ethnography to inform research-driven people-centred outputs, including ground-breaking work in neurodiversity and design. Chris has published extensively in the area of inclusive design, and regularly delivers lectures, keynotes, workshops and education within academia, industry, government, third-sector and public settings.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/d541d555-2125-4f79-8ea9-8d23a7488050_Chris+McGinley+photo.jpeg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,230,1890,1890&w=3200&h=3200

Dr Chris McGinley

Dr Chris McGinley at the RCA

Will Renel is a practice-based researcher working between the fields of critical disability studies and inclusive design. Having completed his doctorate in Communication Design at the Royal College of Art, Will is currently the Director of Research at Touretteshero and a post-doctoral research associate at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design.

https://images.prismic.io/wellcomecollection/6f161ada-a732-4f4e-ad8e-e2ca32513382_Will_Renel_1_Gesine_Garz.jpg?auto=compress,format&rect=0,960,3840,3840&w=3200&h=3200

Dr William Renel

@RenelWill on Twitter

Join us for an evening of conversation, art and music reimagining the world we live in from the perspective of people with learning disabilities and people with autism.

Wellcome uses cookies.

What's on

Exhibitions and Events

Try these too

Stay in the know

Wellcome collection

Finding us:

Opening times:

Today's opening times