Year: 2001–2002

Medium: Series of 16 full-room murals at the Keesler Medical Center.

Conception: While touring the pediatric oncology in-patient ward at the Keesler Medical Center in Biloxi, Mississippi, I saw a need to improve community wellbeing and patient experience in the pediatric oncology inpatient ward. As this wing of the hospital supported children and young people suffering from chronic illnesses, many of their families spent entire days and weeks in the hospital with them. While so many were forced to use the ward as a second home, the space was dull and devoid of anything joyful or interesting. I had already been painting full-size murals in my home for many years and, seeing the hospital ward so devoid of color and warmth, set out to design murals for the neglected hospital space.  

Making: After gaining approval from the head of the hospital, I reached out to my local artist community to recruit volunteers. Upon initial recruitment, we had 55 volunteers, but as the project went on, that number shot up to 250. Due to the limitations of the hospital, we painted one room at a time, each with a theme and a series of hidden easter eggs to pique the kids’ curiosity. We designed two keys for each room, one with the list of easter eggs to hunt for, and one which answers where they’re hidden. After a year of work, hundreds of hours of volunteering, and a lot of paint, we had completely covered 16 in-patient rooms in unique, whimsical murals, each with their own themes (under the sea, space, jungle, cityscape, and so on) and a minimum of 100 easter eggs. 

Impact: This massive undertaking brought hundreds of new people into the hospital. The community outreach made the patients feel more connected and supported, the beautiful art and our little easter eggs brought out more of the kids’ curiosity and, most importantly, survival rates in that ward increased dramatically. For my leadership in this project, I was honored with the Biloxi Woman of the Year Award, the Air Force Angel Award, and the award for Volunteer of the Year for Keesler Air Force Base.

Legacy: Tragically, in 2005, the Keesler Medical Center was all-but-destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The base and hospital were evacuated and the community underwent years of rebuilding and recovery. While the murals and all known photos of them are lost to me and the community, the connections we made through this project remain to this day.