My lockdown project became a business!

During the pandemic Conor Elliott tentatively began to stroll around his local area in Penarth, near Cardiff . His walks were brightened by the many rainbows adorning windows – tributes to the NHS staff working hard to care for Covid patients.

Drawing on his passion for photography (Conor has an Art Photography degree), he started to take pictures of the rainbow paintings. His collection soon grew and eventually Conor had accumulated hundreds of photos.

Seeing the potential to make something more from his photos, Conor approached the manager of his local hospital. Impressed with his work, Conor was put in touch with the NHS Arts for Health and Wellbeing Programme and was commissioned to create a piece for Barry Hospital’s 25th anniversary and another for Llandough Hospital.

Conor created two huge mosaics (6ftx4ft) out of all of his photographs – giant tributes to the NHS from many smaller contributions in the community. They are still on display in the hospitals.

Conor describes his work as an immersive and engaging experience. Children are particularly fascinated by his mosaics, having fun discovering the smaller photos in the image.

Following a cancelled hip operation and weeks spent shielding from Covid, this project was just what Conor needed to give him a sense of purpose and what’s more, an idea for a business venture!

Conor has established Special Moment Mosaics. Custom-made photo mosaics, using many smaller images to create one celebratory picture.