Artwork of the Month: Nige Waters His Cactus, Anita Klein
29 December 2025
This month, our Art Collection Officer, Rachel, led an in-person Artwork of the Month vote as part of GESH Green Day. GESH Green Day is a quarterly event, a chance to pause, reflect, and remind ourselves of the importance of sustainability in everything we do. During the day, various stands and drop-in sessions promote different sustainability initiatives that staff can get involved in.
At the ‘Artwork of the Month’ stand in Ingredients Restaurant, staff, patients and visitors had the chance to choose their favourite from four artworks from the St George’s Art and Heritage Collection and leave a comment. Artworks from the collection were shortlisted on themes related to sustainability, such as: growing your own plants, using public transport, reusing materials, and protecting the oceans. At the end of the event, the winner of the vote was Nige Waters his Cactus by Anita Klein.
About the artwork:
In this artwork, we see the artist, Anita, and her husband Nige watering their plants. Anita waters a row of seedlings in a rectangular pot using a watering can, and Nige cradles a potted cactus in his hand as he waters it from a glass. This artwork has been created using a printing technique called dry point etching, where a pointed tool is used to scratch a design into a plate made of metal or plastic.
Visitors to the ‘Artwork of the Month’ stand liked this artwork because of the themes of care and togetherness. One said, ‘looks like their nurturing themselves, each other and the plants’ and another said, ‘lovely connection to caring for something’. Others like the theme of plants, saying, ‘plants are COOL!!!’. Another simply said ‘I like the style – they have happy faces’.
About the artist:
Anita Klein (1960-) is an Australian artist who creates artworks using a variety of techniques, including: paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics, sculpture, and stained glass. Born in Sydney, Australia, Klein studied at both Chelsea School of Art and Slade School of Art. She has also served as an Elected Associate, Elected Fellow and President of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. She has held many solo exhibitions and been part of group exhibitions in the UK, Sweden, Australia, Greece and the USA.
Klein’s work explores themes of domesticity, motherhood, familial and romantic love. With artworks depicting everyday moments such as dinners with friends, cooking with her family, and listening to her children practising musical instruments, Klein invites the audience of her work to share in her joy of ordinary life.
Arts St George’s (part of St George’s Hospital Charity) is the arts programme for St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. To find out more, follow us on socials @artsstgeorges, or follow Arts St George's - St George's Hospital Charity
The 'Our Hospital: conserving, curating and responding to St George’s Art and Heritage Collection’ is a three-year project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. The project is focusing on conserving, cataloguing, reinterpreting and digitising St George’s Hospital’s unique Art and Heritage Collection so it can be enjoyed by many more people.
