1000 Cranes
As both a nurse and a vaccinator, my practice intersects healthcare, community engagement, and ecological awareness. 1,000 Cranes is a collaborative, sculptural response to the profound challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, capturing the collective grief of the era alongside the immense hope generated by global scientific effort.
The suspended sphere intentionally mirrors the globe, symbolizing our interconnected world and shared vulnerability. The sculpture is constructed from 7,000 individual syringe wrappers, sterile packaging otherwise destined for landfill. Inspired by my daughter’s advocacy for green medical practices, I collaborated with the local vaccination team to collect these wrappers during our shifts, transforming the material byproduct of mass immunization into a medium for reflection.
In this work, the individual origami crane is directly equated to the action of the vaccination itself. Just as each folded crane traditionally represents a physical prayer for health, hope, and longevity, each single dose administered was a tangible act of delivering those very gifts to a person in need. Coincidentally, the ancient Japanese tradition of senbazuru (the folding of one thousand cranes) found a perfect, real-world parallel in our local clinic, matching the approximate number of individuals passing through the vaccination hub each day.
The creation process was intentionally communal, mirroring the monumental collective effort required to distribute the medicine. Under my guidance, a network of vaccinators and healthcare staff from the Chichester area pitched in, joining every seven wrappers into a precise square before folding them into a crane. Unified, these 1,000 cranes stand as a monument to a single day of collective protection and shared human resilience.
Ultimately, 1,000 Cranes invites viewers to connect their personal experiences of endurance with the broader global narrative, offering a space to contemplate the delicate balance between human health, community action, and the wellbeing of our planet.
Medium: Syringe Packets, PVA glue, Fishing Line
