Health Care Heroes: With Wings to Breathe

“Hope. Peace. Love. Faith. Four words to ground us during unsettling times.”

Lori Mackey, art therapist at Advocate Children’s Hospital, created a mural, “With Wings to Breathe” with the intention of bringing our community together through art and creativity.

“As our health care community quickly responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, learning and adapting as new updates unfolded each day, I found myself turning to my own art processes as a way to make sense, process and respond,” she says. “As an art therapist, I witness the opportunities art provides to heal, hold and honor emotions and experiences within the medical field every day.”

Lori says her artwork was inspired by our nurses and the entire community who have come together during such difficult times.

“Quietly, during my hours at home, I painted wings on a raw canvas, each wing with a message of inhale and exhale: hope, peace, love, faith. Four words to provide a sense of grounding and a reminder to allow our breath to life us. These wings were inspired by a previous image I created years ago of delicate lungs in response to a young patient who needed a lung transplant. With COVID-19 being a respiratory virus, it seemed fitting to transform these lungs into wings.”

Lori says she was inspired by the work of Kelsey Montague, a street artist known for her large wing murals throughout the world. “With Wings to Breathe” was created to be hung in a space where team members, patients and families could be invited to pause, reflect, be present and breathe. Lori encourages people to take a moment to stand before the wings and feel their breath, the expansion and condensing of the lungs.

“Take deep inhales and slow exhales. Inhale hope. Exhale peace. Inhale love. Exhale faith.”

She invites patients, families and team members of Advocate Children’s Hospital – Oak Lawn to take a photo in front of the wings and use the hashtag #AdvocateKids when posting on social media. “Join us in creating a gallery of images that brings us together during a time when we remain distanced.”