In May 2024, with support from our Community Engagement Small Grant, AI-MULTIPLY’s community art exhibition opened at Oxford House in Bethnal Green. The exhibit showcased powerful artwork by local participants, sharing their experiences of managing multiple long-term health conditions. Through creative workshops—using ceramics, collage, and AI-generated art—the artists explored health, community, and resilience, sparking important conversations and connecting the public with the AI-MULTIPLY study’s mission.
The exhibition poster and advert
AI-MULTIPLY: Community Art Exhibition
In May 2024, we hosted a community art exhibition at Oxford House in Bethnal Green, showcasing work created by the public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) participants in the AI-MULTIPLY study. These creative pieces explored the experiences of Tower Hamlets residents living with multiple long-term health conditions and taking multiple medications.
The exhibit
The official opening, attended by 58 people, was kicked off by Ceri Durham, CEO of Social Action for Health. Artists, their families, academics, local council members, and the public were invited to view the diverse array of artwork. Throughout the exhibition's run, more than 80 visitors attended to see the show.
The process
Over 6 workshops, PPIE participants experimented using different materials, ceramics, collage, drawing and AI-generated art. These creative works formed the Community Exhibit. These workshops were part of the AI-MULTIPLY project, which aims to use the collective expertise of patients, clinicians, researchers and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the care of people who live with many health conditions and medicines.
Involving the public in research
PPIE emphasizes research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, or ‘about’ or ‘for’ them. In AI-MULTIPLY these workshops were used as a way to understand what participants would like the AI-MULTIPLY project to focus on, what research questions we should ask, and what concerns people might have about the research or topics of AI.
Different creative methods were used to make the research process accessible, inclusive and rely less on written or spoken materials in English. Historically there has been a bias in who is invited to participate in research, with an over-representation of white, middle class and well-educated participants. AI-MULTIPLY collaborated with Social Action for Health, a Tower Hamlets community-based health organisation providing services and support to people most affected by health inequalities, including supporting participants to take part in health research.
The PPIE group
The PPIE group, who are the artists showcased in the exhibit, are a diverse group of 22 individuals, spanning different ages, ethnic groups, and languages. All the workshops were held with the support of translators and facilitated by a visual artist, Sylvia Morgado.
The idea for an art exhibition came from a discussion with the PPIE participants, who wanted to share their work with the academic community, friends and family. The exhibition not only showcased the participants creative works, giving insight in the experiences of living with multiple long term conditions and taking multiple medications, but also provided a space to discuss these themes with the wider community.
For more information about the AI-MULTIPLY project or the exhibition, please contact:
Lizzie Remfry: e.a.remfry@qmul.ac.uk
Grainne Colligan: grainnec@safh.org.uk
AI-MULTIPLY website: http://ai-multiply.co.uk/
Social Action for Health website: https://www.safh.org.uk/