The Mobile Library - Dear Diary . . . was a work devised for an artist residency at The Royal London Hospital, part of a project run by the Chisenhale Gallery and Vital Arts.
The aim of each residency is to support young patients to create their own work which can then be experienced by patients and staff, and to encourage interaction between all participants.
The first books to be part of The Mobile Library were diaries kept by the young patients during their time in hospital.
Each participant was given a notebook to record their thoughts, and each day their entries (text and drawings) were collected into a 'group diary' - bound copies of this were then put into the library. As the library toured the hospital, these diaries could be borrowed by young patients, their families, visitors and staff.
As well as the diaries, The Mobile Library had all the equipment necessary to book out and to record who had borrowed each book.
The Mobile Gallery will continue to function in the future with the team of play specialists setting different themes for the making of books - children's stories, recipe books, jokes, etc
Trolley, painted signs, diaries