Hellesdon Hospital and the Art of Recovery

After almost 150 years the doors will soon close on the red-bricked Victorian building of the Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich. Service-users, staff and services will be relocated to the new purpose-built Rivers Centre.

Curated with current staff and service-users, the exhibition invites you to get “curious about the story” of mental healthcare over the last three centuries and explore this through a selection of artefacts, documents and testimonies. In mental healthcare environments, where those judged to have lost “reason” were institutionalised, what can objects from the past tell us about that experience?

In a series of artist-led workshops, individuals with lived experience of mental illness, their carers, families, and hospital staff, will explore stories from the past and present to contribute their own voices to the exhibition and the legacy of the hospital.

‘Hellesdon Hospital and the Art of Recovery’ is part of Being Human Festival 2023, a national festival of the humanities.

Plan your visit

Free entry | Last entry 30 minutes prior to closing