Metro art project marks Childhood Cancer Awareness month

The art work, located in the station’s popular Bridge Gallery, features a connecting chain of lab coats – symbolising the role of researchers, and the key breakthroughs in children’s cancer research over recent decades.

The lab coats hang centrally in the exhibition space to represent the individual scientists, their teamwork, and the complex, precise nature of their groundbreaking research.

Written across the sleeves are short quotes from the research team, sharing what matters most to them and their proudest achievements within their paediatric oncology careers.

Floating chandelier-like sculptures surround the coats, made from plastic waste saved from the Children’s Cancer North Research Laboratories at Newcastle University. By elevating these discarded materials into artworks, the sculptures represent the ongoing search for ‘kinder treatments’ for children and utilise the everyday tools handled by the research team during this process.

Titled ‘Kinder Treatments’, the exhibit will be on display at Tynemouth Metro station until Tuesday 13 October.

Lynne Dickinson, Station Delivery Manager at Nexus, said: “Tynemouth Metro station is a renowned location for art projects through its bridge gallery. We are delighted to see that continue through this latest exhibition marking Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

“The art work will be seen by many thousands of people who pass through the Metro station each and every week, and we hope they enjoy seeing it.

“Metro plays a really significant role in showcasing public art work through our Art on Transport Programme.”

Abigail Hewison, Head of Charity for Children’s Cancer North, said: ‘‘We’re delighted to be working with the team at North Tyneside Art Studio again this year to help shed light on the important childhood cancer research taking place right here on our doorstep.

“As a charity, one of our main aims is to invest in revolutionary research, which we fund locally at Newcastle University, and it’s been wonderful to experience what often goes unseen behind closed doors be brought to life through this year’s installation.’’

As part of the project, North Tyneside Art Studio ran weekly workshop sessions throughout the summer where participants engaged in a variety of activities to design and embellish a lab coat of their own. Resulting in 14 uniquely designed garments, each with a different personal response to the brief.

The installation is the second collaborative project that Children’s Cancer North and North Tyneside Art Studio have worked on, following the success of their 2025 exhibit ‘Invisible Journeys’ which featured 120 hand-crafted golden stars – one to represent each child who receives a cancer diagnosis across the North East and Cumbria every year.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month provides an opportunity to highlight the prevalence of the disease in our communities, and this thought-provoking new installation forms part of Children’s Cancer North’s ‘Paint The Toon Gold’ regional awareness campaign this September.