A Little Piece of Me celebrates the many influences that shape the identities of developing children and adolescents who are supported by Paediatric Palliative Care teams at Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network and John Hunter Children’s Hospital.

These teams provide compassionate and specialised care to children and adolescents who have life limiting illnesses. Part of this care can include legacy and memory making projects which are an important aspect to many patients and their families who receive such a diagnosis.

An initiative of Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation Art Program, the project enables families to create a photographic pixel portrait – a technique that uses small images to create a singular large image. With each team’s guidance, families gathered photos of people, places and things that have helped shape their child’s life.

Once collected, the photos were arranged by artist Andrew Christie to create a portrait of their child. The process provides families with an opportunity to reflect on their child’s life, and what is important to them. The final artwork creatively captures the wonderful lives of the children and adolescents outside of their illness and offers the families a tangible memory they can keep, but most importantly, tells their unique story. The portraits celebrate the importance of understanding the many facets of identities in developing children and adolescents, while also highlighting how patients and their loved ones create an atmosphere of resilience, adaptability, and creativity during often trialling times of uncertainty.

This exhibition is being held concurrently with displays at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Bear Cottage Manly and John Hunter Children’s Hospital. 

This project is an initiative of Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation Art Program and is supported by The Nicholas Trust and Digi Direct.