Lewis Khan's Hospital blues | Fisheye Magazine

Hospitals, known to all for the wrong and right reasons. Lewis Khan, a young British photographer spent 18 months documenting a London hospital eventually creating his series Love Time. After wining a competition for being an artist residence, this young photographer began the intimate project of doing a visual recording of staff and patients, a testimony of the United Kingdoms current healthcare system.

In an era where Englands healthcare is unstable, Lewis Khan captures the heart and lifeblood of a system that is on it’s last legs. Not enough hospital beds, four hour waiting time in A&E, GP’s closing, yet these pictures show another side than rather what we hear through the media. Lewis Khan visited the hospital for around 18 months during an artist residency at The Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London. This personal project deemed as ‘rich and emotional ‘ for the photographer, a series that cannot stray from the looming political and social issues that accompany a topic of discussion in this turning point in time.

An environment of empathy

It gives a warm and penetrating insight into the NHS, a healthcare system on breaking point. Love Time exposes an interconnected account for London’s community and it’s role, equally important within Lewis Khans work. A place that fueled this young photographers inspiration. London itself, almost as much as the hospital would have an effect on Lewis. It would be the seed of inspiration for other photographical series after, “feeling heavy from the weight of spending time in such an environment “. This piece of artistic documentary is a visual diary of the encounters he made. Lewis here uses the “power of relationships within hospitals between staff and patients “ as a testimony of the value of a system built on trust, at a time of vulnerability and fragility. In such a sensitive environment Lewis captured to perfection the most “universal human qualities of strength and fragility” that had an incredible impact on such a setting, highlighting it’s power. The photographer, during his residence gradually built bridges with staff as much as patients, allowing his work to become a witness of time. “People were curious about what I was doing, people in hospitals are usually either bored or stressed, so I guess any distraction helps“. This is how his smooth and sharp images depict the running of a hospital. A number of striking portraits, each telling an individual story in a unique, high-pressure environment.