Heartbeat: Portraits capture souls of NHS colleagues during the pandemic

November 2, 2020

It all started when Speech and Language Therapist, Kate Palser saw a feature on BBC news online about the #portraitsfornhsheroes campaign on Instagram – a project kicked off by the artist Tom Croft back in April, offering a free oil portrait to the first NHS frontline worker to message him.

The initiative then extended to thousands of other artists who offered to do the same, working from photos and providing the portraits free of charge – with the aim to have an exhibition once lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Kate felt it was important to make sure that speech and language therapy as a profession was represented. She contacted artist Timothy Sutton who kindly agreed to do her portrait.

Heartbeat caught up with Ellie Savage, Speech and Language Therapist who told us more. “Kate received her portrait back in May and that was when I became aware of the project,” she said. “I was so impressed with Kate’s portrait, I decided I’d like to have one done too as a memento of working during this unprecedented time.”

“It was easier said than done trying to match with an artist, as the project had become so popular that the moment artists were announcing their availability, people were snapping them up.”

“I did eventually manage to get matched and, from there, offered to help match any other colleagues who wanted a portrait. The aim was to get portraits of as many of the team done as possible.”

“The result is the eight different portraits in the picture – all by different artists who used different mediums and styles.”