Time and Time

Being a hospital patient is usually not a pleasant experience. For some patients
at New-York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, stays were not
enhanced by the view out the window: a bland white industrial wall.The drab
barrier – erected in 2010 a stone’s throw from patient rooms on the fourth and
fifth floors to hide newer mechanical systems – presented such a dismal sight
that nurses would avoid putting patients in those rooms. Whenever space
became available, they would move patients from the west side, with the view
of the plain wall, to the coveted east side, where light bounces off the waves
of the East River and a steady stream of boat traffic passes Roosevelt Island.

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But much to the delight of patients and the hospital staff, workers recently
removed scaffolding in front of the wall to reveal a mural of dazzling color. “I just
think the lines are beautiful,” said Michelle Miller, a patient, as she sat in a chair
with a view out her fifth-story window. “They were finishing it yesterday, when
I was moved into the room. I thought it was gorgeous.” The 5,000-square-foot
abstract painting is a vibrant series of vertical diamond and chevron shapes of
blue, purple, green, and ocher – created by Odili Donald Odita, a well-known
artist with a worldwide following. “I’m a huge modern art fan,” said Ms. Miller,
42. “I see a lot of different things in it.”

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The crenulated greens and blues are like earth and water, she said, adding that
she saw people interacting and shapes that reminded her of a celestial being.
“When you’re in the hospital you have work to do, I mean getting well is your
work,” said Ms. Miller, who was being treated for alcohol withdrawal. She
added that a positive environment “helps expedite your improvement.” Hospital
workers agreed that having natural light and pleasing aesthetic surroundings
was an important part of caring for patients. “It just makes such a difference,”
said Caroline Olivetti, a nurse in the cardiac unit on the hospital’s fourth floor.
She said she went around opening curtains to give patients a view of the
hospital’s newest artwork. “We don’t mind putting people over here now,” she
said. “I like it, and it’s beautiful,” said Alma Mercado, 79, a Brooklyn resident
who was rushed to the hospital after having a heart attack. “It’s so bright.”

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Ms. Mercado is big on color, pointing out a patterned purple blouse hanging
in the closet in her room on the cardiac unit. Her nails were freshly coated in a
greenish blue. Ever since the wall went up, hospital officials had been wondering
how to make it more appealing; they even considered projecting an image of
the East River onto it. In the end, they settled on a painting and commissioned
Mr. Odita to do the work.

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Mr. Odita said he was challenged by the responsibility of painting the mural,
given its location. “It was almost daunting to think of doing something at that
scale and at an institution of that importance,” said Mr. Odita, in a recent
telephone interview from Cape Town, where he was setting up a gallery
exhibition. “I knew the comparison would always be the East River. I wanted
to have and include nature without illustrating it.”

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Mr. Odita, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Ohio, said his mural, “Time
and Time,” took about two months to complete. His work has been featured in
exhibitions in America, Africa and Europe. Realizing that the mural would be
visible by people from the infant nursery on the seventh floor to the elderly in the
cardiac unit, Mr. Odita wanted it to represent the cycle of life, and give solace
to viewers by helping them see their place in that cycle. He knew that unlike
gallery browsers, patients would face his painting for hours and even days. He
hoped someone staring at the complex shards might “allow the color to open
up other ideas of possibilities or considerations of what might be going on in
their life,” he said.Ms. Miller said gazing at the mural gave her encouragement.
“It’s inspirational for me,” she said. “It makes me feel like I want to get out of
these cream-colored walls and go back to life.”

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Nobody Goes to the Hospital for the View, but …
Randy Leonard
Published in The New York Times, October 25, 2012.