Merlin Park Hospital, Galway University Hospital 2023 – 2025
Artists
Manuela Corbari & Yvonne Cullivan
When
Launching 2nd October 2025, 1-2pm.
With key speaker Marielle MacLeman.
Supported by
- Saolta Arts
- Healthy Ireland
- Galway City Council
- The Arts Council
- ATU
It’s so peaceful. Only the peace matters. It’s like being there. I’ve been in the hospital for such a long time. When you have Chemo, your platelets are low. You can’t have visitors. You take it for granted – being able to go for a walk in nature. Thank you for taking me out today.
– Patient
Studies show that spending time in green spaces—or bringing nature into everyday life—can support both mental and physical wellbeing. Since 2023 the project YOU ARE HERE has invited patients and staff at Galway University Hospital and Merlin Park Hospitals to connect with nature in a unique and immersive way.
Using 360° video viewed through a VR headset, natural soundscapes, and a curated box of natural objects, participants were transported to a natural environment of their choice. The multi-sensory experience engaged sight, sound, touch, and smell, offering a calming, restorative escape from the clinical setting.
An exhibition, featuring portraits of the participants along with their personal reflections on the project, will be running in the NPRO link corridor in University Hospital Galway from the middle of September. A series of events and talks relating to this project will take place over the course of September / October.
The project is the recipient of the Arts + Health Documentation Bursary, funded by The Arts Council and the HSE. A documentary about YOU ARE HERE is currently being developed and will be available on this page.
Choose full screen and watch using a 360 viewer or headset for an immersive experience.
It was a very calm day.
Lots of birds were flying around and I could see the rocks. I could see all around me, like in a whole 360° space. And the sky was lovely and blue and the beach was calm.
There were waves lapping on the shore. It was almost as if I was at the beach. It was lovely.
I loved to watch the birds because they were nearly doing a dance in the sky.
— Staff
The colour of the tree: the greenish, but the pinkish at the same time.
Yeah, everything around: the grass, the flowers. It was beautiful.
Nature is amazing.
It is everything. I could just relax.
When I can’t sleep and I think of those visuals, it will really help. It’s been a struggle. It’s been a struggle to sleep these days. So I love those images. I’ll bring them back to mind.
— Patient
It’s so peaceful. Only the peace matters.
It’s like being there.
I’ve been in the hospital for such a long time. When you have chemo, your platelets are low. You can’t have visitors. You take it for granted – being able to go for a walk in nature.
Thank you for taking me out today.
— Patient
I’ve been in the sunshine.
With the wild garlic and the bird song, in a beautiful forest.
I feel calm, soothed, curious.
Yeah… lighter.
— Volunteer
A moment to unwind probably.
Relax and unwind and forget about the telephone ringing maybe for 5 or 10 minutes or whatever you know…
or somebody calling your name.
That you’re just immersed in there – the Meadow in my case.
The sounds of nature. Lovely.
— Staff
I felt like I was getting warmer because I was in the sun.
Just really, really peaceful, you know.
You would nearly think there was a bee going to come and land on your hands.
You know, very at one with nature.
— Parent
It just kind of slowed down your thoughts and you just relaxed a little bit. And you could see the breeze and just imagine yourself there.
It’s really nice.
It just brings earth into the hospital space.
— Patient
No interference from the outside world. Beautiful.
Even with the sounds of the hospital.
I even zoned into the waves crashing in. It was beautiful.
I focused more on my breathing.
Yeah, like, deep breaths.
I became relaxed, kind of immersed myself in the experience for a time.
Yeah, kind of soothing.
— Staff
