Let's Talk About Brain Tumours

Episode 40 - Spotlight on TIME: using art to tell stories of brain tumours

• The Brain Tumour Charity • Episode 40

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In this episode, we talk to Hannah Waldron about the TIME Art Exhibition.

The exhibition featured photographs, illustrations, paintings, scans and sculptures submitted by the community to help tell the stories of those affected by a brain tumour, as well as artwork from upcoming and renowned artists from around the globe.  

The aim of the exhibition was to help raise awareness of our mission to defeat brain tumours. The exhibition was from 6th April to 15th April at The Business Design Centre, Upper Street, Islington, London N1

You can find out more about TIME here or contact the team by emailing time@thebraintumourcharity.org

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If you would like to speak to a member of our support team you can call 0808 800 0004 or email support@thebraintumourcharity.org

Sarah:

Welcome to Let's Talk about brain tumours the podcast where we'll be talking to people who have been affected by brain tumour diagnosis, either their own diagnosis or the diagnosis of a loved one. We'll also be sharing news and updates from the brain tumour charity about what we're doing to halve the harm and double survival.

Anna:

Welcome back to another episode of the brain tumour charity Podcast. I'm Anna and today I'm going to be chatting with Hannah Waldron, the senior events Officer here at the brain tumour charity, we're going to be talking all about an exciting upcoming event called the TIME Art Exhibition. I hope you enjoy. Thank you so much, Hannah, for joining me on the podcast today. We're really looking forward to talking about the TIME Art Exhibition. But firstly, it would be great to know a little bit about you and your role at the painting charity.

Hannah Waldron:

Yeah, of course. Well, firstly, thank you for having me it's a pleasure to be here so yeah, I'm Hannah, and I am the senior events Officer here at The Brain Tumour Charity. I work in our events team and are behind some of the many events we do throughout the year from organising them to running them on the day um yeah, that is my job and I love it.

Anna:

Good, that sounds really exciting. I know, there's lots of fun events happening at The Brain Tumour Charity at the moment. and the one that we're talking about today is the TIME Exhibition. So it would be great if you could just tell us a little bit about what is the Time Exhibition.

Hannah Waldron:

Sure so the TIME Art Exhibition is a first of its kind, we've never done anything like this before. So it's a big art exhibition taking place at the Business Design Centre, in Islington between the 6thto the 15th of April and we are showcasing so much work from all different people from established artists, you know, we've got a Forbes 30, under 30, Nicholas Kontaxis with a never seen before piece that's flown in from LA, to members of our community who maybe find art therapeutic during recovery, and all different stories coming to light through art and we hope that whether you know about the charity, or have never heard of us that you can come and hear a little bit about what time means for different people and, you know, even find out about brain tumours and become aware of the signs and symptoms whilst you're there.

Anna:

Sounds great. I think art is definitely such a way that people can express themselves so I think when you're going through something that's so kind of difficult to navigate, it can be quite a quite a therapeutic, as you say, way so it's a really good, really good idea and so what kind of art is going to be at the event.

Hannah Waldron:

Gosh so we have gotten everything, everything you can imagine um we've got beautiful paintings and drawings and a lot of mixed media. But then we have really unusual things like one of the things I'd love to talk about is these three ball gowns that have been flown over from Canada. So they've been put together by the University of British Columbia, and a collaboration between their art department and their neurology department and so they've made these three beautiful gowns, which are based on the microbiology of brain tumours and oh, they're, they're unbelievable and you look at them, and they look. oh, incredible and then you see the images of what they're trying to display, which are cellular, Like picutures of the brain and you're like,

Anna:

yes, Wow, I never knew that you could transform that into a ballgown and it yeah, it truly is incredible. So yeah, that's one of the many, many things we have. And we've got some glass art, which is beautiful. We've got a beautiful hat that's been created with, like a hidden bug inside so if you look carefully, you can see so little bug in the back of it. But yeah, I mean, like I say every piece tells a story and that's what we're, I think most proud to be able to show. That sounds good. It sounds like it'd be quite interactive for people to see lots of different things as well. Is there anything happening aside from showcasing the art at the exhibition?

Hannah Waldron:

thought why not have different things go on. So we've got a couple of different evenings and we've got a gallery involved called Contas gallery who showcase artists called Stony who sadly passed away from a brain tumour, but they've come and taken over a whole section of the exhibition so they're going to have a night where they can invite down their gallery contacts as well as anyone can come if they're interested our tickets are online. And we've got workshops going on throughout the day so we've got a amazing lady called Lynn Russell, who's a children's, well, writer and illustrator and she's going to come and run workshops for children, which is perfect as it is the Easter holidays. So yes, a good time to do things with your kids, and keep them busy and then we've got Dr. Joshua, Y'barbo, who is going to run an art club, exploring different themes, through different methods and that will be really interactive as well. And you can find out about these on our website and book a ticket to come to them if you're interested.

Anna:

Wow, that sounds amazing. I read online as well, that there's also a silent auction as well. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Hannah Waldron:

Yeah, of course so most, well, nearly all of the work will be for sale and you can come and scan the QR code next to the piece of work and pop a bid in on it and then at the end of the exhibition, we will contact you if you're bid was successful and you can take a piece home with you which Yeah, I mean, there's so many to choose from I think to find something that works perfectly from your home or wherever you might like.

Anna:

Yeah, oh, no, that's lovely again, just another nice way for people to interact with it yeah, sounds great. So what is the main aim of the time art exhibition?

Hannah Waldron:

Yeah, so the main aim is obviously to raise money through selling art, we also will have a shop there where you can pick up some merchandise if you're interested. But you know, another big important areas, getting people to come and you know, come and have a look at an art exhibition, maybe have never heard of The Brain Tumour Charity before, but then leave, being aware of who we are, or, you know, they might take home a signs and symptoms cards with them and that might help somebody in their life and you never know. So I think it's a very good opportunity to kind of become acquainted with new people and build our support in that way. So that's also very important. Yeah, I think it's a it's a mixture between awareness and fundraising.

Anna:

Yeah, that sounds really good in your kind of experience how does it help people to be there and go to things that are part of the brain tumour can be community why are events like this are so important for people in that kind of way.

Hannah Waldron:

I think they're very important because obviously, if you've been impacted by a brain tumour, and you want to come and attend the event, then you might meet other people who have also been impacted and you might feel like you're in a familiar surrounding and it might be a good opportunity to share your story with somebody who's been through something similar, or maybe who hasn't, but gives you the opportunity to talk about it and, you know, we'd love as many people to come down as possible, tickets are completely free so you can pop in if you're around and, you know, if you don't meet other people around the gallery, we'll always have a big staff team there who would love to chat to you and walk you through the exhibition so I think it provides a, an area for our community to be together as a community, which is very important.

Anna:

Yeah, definitely. And if it goes, well, obviously, you said this is kind of the first event of its kind do you think the charity will look to do similar things in the future?

Hannah Waldron:

Yeah, definitely. I think that that is not off the table at all, I think we'll have a go at this, see what happens, see how much money we raise from it, see the opportunities we get out of it, and then look at what we can do in the future and whether that's another art exhibition or different thing in the arts world. I think it's important that we keep our options open when looking at events, because we want to be doing different things and we want to be able to engage people in different ways so yeah, definitely not off the cards and I've already had people telling me that they'd like to donate art in the future. So I feel like we may end up coming back again.

Anna:

Wow, definitely. It's a whole sector and a whole group of people that are keen to get involved by the sounds of it that's really amazing. What are you looking forward to most just about the event in general? Is there anything else that you're kind of looking forward to seeing? I know, you mentioned those beautiful dresses, but is there anything else that you're looking forward to?

Hannah Waldron:

Oh, I mean, they're every bit of art that comes through our door at the moment I instantly fall in love with so I think it will be me trying not to buy everything I see. Actually, I'm really looking forward to people connecting with art and the stories behind it and we're gonna do a thing where people can write what their story behind the artwork and we're calling it in my own words, so hopefully people will really understand the what's triggered the piece to have been created and give people a little bit of an insight into what it may be like to be impacted by a brain tumour, you know, whether you're personally affected or not, I think that will be a really important moment. And I think from an event point of view, I can't wait to get there and see it all up on the walls and make it all come together. That is the defining moment for me.

Anna:

And, obviously, that one of the main aims is to raise money for the charity so could you just kind of remind people and talk through a little bit about what, what does that money go towards? Why is that so important to the charity?

Hannah Waldron:

Yeah, of course. So, obviously, being in the events team, I'm part of our fundraising department and, quite frankly, we can't do the work that we do without raising money and without people doing incredible things by attending events ar you know, whether you're running a marathon, or you're coming in purchasing a bit of art, or even, you know, going online, on to our shop, but it really does help fund what we do and we are the biggest researchers globally in to brain tumours and we want to carry on and we won't stop until we find a cure and you know, brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40 and we are very, very aware of that in what we do and we know that needs to change, and we will keep going and keep putting on events and fundraising opportunities until we get to a place where people aren't affected by brain tumours anymore.

Anna:

Yeah, absolutely. It's really important and yeah, they do, they really do make a difference and so you said that it's at the Business Design Centre in London so if people did want to take part or get involved, how would they be able to do that.

Hannah Waldron:

So I think well it would be great if you can come down, it's over the Easter holidays, that will be open between 10 o'clock in the morning and 6pm at night, between the 6th and 15th of April. So if you're around, pop down and have a look or you can come to one of our events by looking on our website and I mean, if you wanted to we'd love love you to come and volunteer, where you can spend the day with us and talk to people who are coming to visit the exhibition. Or if you've got an art background, and you might be able to talk through some of the artwork, people, you know, anything you could do around that we'd love to hear from you. But yeah, mainly, just come on down, spread the word. You might see us all over socials at the moment and if you do, if you could like it or repost it or anything like that, send it to a friend in London and you know, that would be brilliant.

Anna:

So if people did want to reach out, is there a website address or email address that they can reach you at?

Hannah Waldron:

Yeah, so we are at time@thebraintumourcharity.org, which you can send us an email, and we'll reply, but you can find that on the website, just search for TIME Art Exhibition and we're quite easy to find and hopefully, you'll see us with a lot of advertisement at the moment because the aim is to be everywhere.

Anna:

Was there anything else about the art exhibition or just in general that you wanted our listeners to know about?

Hannah Waldron:

I think I also just want to say a big thank you to lots of our community who have got involved and who have taken time to create a beautiful piece of artwork, or you know, we've had things like poems come through to us with such important messages behind them and your artwork and contribution really will help shape our exhibition and we'll give it the heart and the story and the power behind what they're trying to display so yeah, a huge thank you and that's brilliant.

Anna:

Sounds really, really exciting and I hope it goes really, really well thank you so much for chatting me through it and so yeah, just please do come down. If you're listening to this, and it sounds like something that's of interest, and it would be great.

Hannah Waldron:

No, thank you very much and yeah, we hope to see you there.

Anna:

Well, thank you, Hannah, for your time today and if people do want to get in touch then obviously they can visit The Brain Tumour Charity at www.thebraintumourcharity.org We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you'll never miss an episode. If you'd like more information, you can visit our website at thebraintumourcharity.org or email our support team at support@the braintumourcharity.org And finally, before you go if you enjoyed this podcast, please can you leave us a review on iTunes wherever you get your podcasts so we can reach more people and raise more awareness