Maria Lopez

Last April, I was painting a huge mural in one of the walls in the lobby of Children’s Hospital La Paz in Madrid. I had the opportunity to work with the American artist Gary Hirsch whom I learnt a lot from. The goal of this mural is to create awareness about a new project which goal is to diagnose 1000 kids with rare genetic deceases. You can read more about the project here.

It is great to explore how art can help.

During the time we were painting, lots of stories happened around us at the hospital.

 

The girls working for blood donation followed the mural process very close, and they called one of the robots as «Marichu». In their name, I encourage you to go and donate blood at La Paz. They will take excellent care of you and the hospital needs blood!

 

 

 

Fernando is the painter at the hospital (the one with big brushes and rolls). Even though he was a bit overloaded,

He helped us at every moment, providing us materials, clothes, and even food! He is awesome and everybody at the hospital loves him.

The electricians let us one of their most beloved ladders. Thanks a lot! We took care of it with love! 🙂

 

We had several kids that came to paint. One girl who had surgery the day after and several kids that came for consultation took part in the painting of the big wall. The bodies of some of the robots were painted by them. Thank you for your help!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had some adults that volunteered to paint. Thank you!!

We had assesors, like Asun, an auxiliary that came several times in order to be sure that all the robots were smiling and some of them had 3 eyes.

And we didn’t miss encouragement from doctors, nurses, auxiliaries, techincians, cleaning, patients, parents, etc.
Many kids were surprised that we were painting on A WALL!! One boy was outraged even though his mother explained that we were allowed to do it, he was not for accepting that we were paintin on A WALL!!

It was a great experience to be part of that wall and listen what the wall does every day.

If you wonder which sentences are the ones we listened the most, these were: «Look! They are painting! It is so pretty! It is cool!»

Afterwards, everybody was trying to find out what we were painting. One boy said it was a mushroom and that made us laugh for hours. They also thought about robots, martians, dolls, bugs, etc.

What about the answers to the questions painted in our robots?

«Who helps you to be brave?» – Every single kid answered «Nobody», or «Me», «Me by myself».
Adults answered the same question in many different ways, but none of the answers given by the kids. They said: «my family», «my husband», «God», «the Lord», «doctors», «everybody»…
That made us think a lot. Looks like braveness is something you lose when you get old.

Last, but not least, I would like to send my regards and energy to the 2 parents whose children were in the IC in a very difficult situation. They did not notice me painting the wall, but I suffered listening them talking on the phone with family and friends. Even though I was there like part of the wall, I don’t forget them and I hope they are healthy and back home.

To everybody working at La Paz hospital, to every visitor and patient, thanks a lot for such a funny and rich experience. Thanks a lot for the challenge and for all the smiles.
I hope that our smiling robots, spread smiles to those around and that their magic and strength (those robots are magic) gets into the nearby IC.