Oliver’s project focuses on hospital environments

A student with a rare inherited condition is planning a photography project looking at hospital environments.

Oliver Harding is studying photography at Canterbury Christ Church University and plans to examine how light, colour and artwork can influence patients’ experience.

He was inspired by his own time as a patient after being diagnosed with blood disorder dyskeratosis congenita and also a hole in the heart, which needed surgery to repair.

Oliver, who lives in Dover, said: “I have spent a lot of time in waiting rooms, and always found it interesting to see the differences and similarities between them.

“I’m interested in how art and colour can affect how people feel while they are waiting; whether there is anything that can help relax people who are sometimes waiting to hear difficult news.

“Very few people like visiting hospitals but there may be small things that can help people feel at ease or at least provide something interesting to look at while you are waiting.”

Oliver was diagnosed as a child, after a relative started experiencing worrying symptoms. Tests revealed she had the condition, which is genetic, so other members of the family were tested, and Oliver, his dad, and grandmother were all found to be affected.

It is estimated to affect around one in a million people, and can cause bone marrow failure. But some people do not experience any symptoms so are unaware they are carriers of the condition.

Oliver said: “We were both under Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital for several years and I remember the decorations and themes they had for their clinics and other areas.

“I now see a specialist at Bart’s hospital in London and that offers different environments and feels very different.

“Those experiences helped spark my interest and I’m really looking forward to seeing the variety of images I can capture as part of this project.”

The photographs will form Oliver’s major project for the third year of his degree. He hopes to then work as a teacher and continue developing his skills.