Artwork of the Month: Willoughby Hedge, England by Charlie Waite
24 April 2025
This month, the artwork was chosen by members of staff from the Radiology department and visitors to the X-Ray waiting room in St James Wing. There are currently six artworks on display from the St George’s Art and Heritage Collection in the waiting room, from four different artists. Rachel, our Art Collection Officer, visited the waiting room to ask the staff and visitors their which one was their favourite. Willoughby Hedge, England was the winner!
About the artwork:
In this photograph, we see a full verdant tree standing solitary among a field of lilac-coloured flowers, which fills the frame. Willoughby Hedge is located in the countryside of Wiltshire. It sits within Cranborne Chase National Landscape, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which covers 380 square miles of countryside.
This artwork resonated with the staff and visitors in the X-Ray waiting room. One person said that they found the artwork ‘very relaxing in what can be a very stressful waiting area’. Another said that they liked the ‘brightness’ brought to the artwork by ‘pastel colours’ in the grass, and that it is source of ‘escapism and peace’ which gave them a ‘glimpse of the outside world when at the hospital’. Most of the comments about the artwork spoke about how it was calming to look at, with one writing that it is ‘serene’ and ‘peaceful’. These comments reflect the power of both this artwork and others to impact the feelings of the viewer and inspire them – taking them to different places and provoking memories.
About the artist:
Charlie Waite is a renowned landscape photographer. Born in 1949, he had a ten-year career as an actor in British theatre and television before embarking on a career shift to landscape photography, inspired by the impact of light and shade on the landscape.
He is internationally recognised for his skill in landscape photography, capturing an atmosphere of serenity and calm through his photographs. He has held solo exhibitions in the UK, Japan, Australia and the USA and his photographs can be found in private, corporate, and public collections, like the St George’s Art and Heritage Collection.
In 2007, he was granted the Amateur Photographer’s Power of Photography Award and in 2014 he was awarded a direct Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society. He has also been featured in television shows and series discussing landscape photography.
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.
