News

This June, our Tavistock Centre in Belsize Lane hosts something quietly remarkable. Spectrum, a new Pride Month exhibition, transforms the Art Space into a living, shared experience, bringing together art, mental health and radically inclusive care in one compelling encounter.

At its heart are 17 emerging artists from across the UK, Asia, USA, Europe and South America, all part of Central Saint Martins’ MA Fine Art: Digital programme. Each contributes a single work responding to mental health, Pride or the spirit of summer. The pieces vary in form - digital, conceptual, interdisciplinary, but feel unified by a spirit of openness and care.

Featuring artists (who you can also connect with on Instagram):
Alex Murdoch @alexmurdoch.art
Ben Lingard@ben_lingard_art
Ben McGuigan @becmccc 
Claire Ferguson @clrfrgsn
Daniella McNulty @daniella.mcnulty.artist
Felicity Talman @felicitytalmanart
Gail Deptford @gail_deptford
Hicham Bensassi @artbyhicham
Juliette Watkins @dark.room.dweller
Keely Hunter @keelyhunterstudio
Laurie Strachan @lozfineart
Nicola Garvey @garvey_66
Olga Szynkarczuk @olgaszynkarczuk
Rachel Emberton @rachel.emberton
Sofi Stern @sofi.stern
Tim Marvell @marvelltimothy
Tracie Anglo Dizon @tracie_a_d

What gives Spectrum its real charge is the setting. Rather than a traditional gallery, the exhibition unfolds along the working corridors of the Tavistock Centre. This is a place built on listening and reflection, and that context shifts everything. Art is not set apart. It sits within the everyday rhythms of care. Patients, students, clinicians and visitors encounter the work as they move through the space, sharing not just a corridor but a set of emotional and human experiences.

Sofi Stern with her work ‘Exit / Exist’
There is a growing body of evidence showing that engagement with the arts can play a meaningful role in health and wellbeing. Research suggests that arts and cultural participation is linked to improved mental health, stronger emotional regulation and even reduced distress among patients. Cultural engagement can be a genuine contributor to healthier lives. In other words, exhibitions like Spectrum are not simply decorative, they can actively support wellbeing. 

Alex Murdoch, with her work: ‘Onlookers’
The exhibition itself is the result of a careful and ambitious collaboration between Central Saint Martins, Daniella McNulty, Attitude Magazine and the North London Foundation Trust. More than a year in the making, it reflects both creative ambition and thoughtful partnership. McNulty also created and co-curated a Pride show with the British Embassy in Paris, throughout the month of June 2026.

Daniella McNulty reinvents surrealism with her painting: ‘The Persistence of Temptation’
For McNulty, who led the project, the exhibition is deeply personal. Drawing on her British, French and Taiwanese identity, she has shaped Spectrum as a meeting point, between cultures, disciplines and ways of understanding care. Beyond Borders, the art exhibition created by McNulty and co-curated by The Norm Agency and currently at the British Embassy in Paris, also extends this same ethos internationally.

As UK Minister for Europe Stephen Doughty said of the Paris show: “We are delighted to be hosting this exhibition… This is the first time the Embassy has hosted an exhibition specifically for Pride, and we are proud to open our doors to queer British artists living in France.” For the NHS, the sentiment carries across both exhibitions: a commitment to visibility, inclusion and cultural exchange.

Laurie Strachan, with his work ‘Fragile’
Back in London, Spectrum also marks an important step for the Tavistock Centre itself. It is the first time the site has collaborated with a globally recognised art institution on this scale. Mat Zaremba, our Art Curator, said, “It’s taken a long time to bring the various partners together, and the international aspect added a whole other dimension of complexity. But we are so grateful to Daniella for curating this exhibition to celebrate Pride month.” The result is not just an exhibition placed inside a healthcare setting, but one that actively contributes to it, offering moments of pause, recognition and connection within a clinical environment.

That intention aligns closely with Central Saint Martins’ approach. The MA Fine Art: Digital programme is inherently international, bringing together students across countries, cultures and life stages. For course leader Jonathan Kearney, showing work in a space grounded in compassion felt essential. The exhibition mirrors the course’s ethos: creating a community where difference is supported, explored and valued.

Olga Szynkarczuk and her piece ‘Matrescence’
Spectrum ultimately works as both artwork and invitation. It invites visitors to slow down, to notice what they feel as much as what they see, and to consider how care might extend beyond formal structures into shared cultural experience. It suggests that art can be part of how we hold each other up, quietly, collectively, and with intent.

Spectrum runs until 4 July, you can visit in person at the Tavistock Centre or see the full catalogue online.

Click here to view catalogue

Or scan: