Bon Accord Baths to Host GHAT Collection Show
Artwork chosen for hospital wards will be on display at the abandoned swimming pool this July.
Hospitals and swimming pools don’t usually share much in common. But this summer, one of Aberdeen’s most distinctive buildings becomes home to a collection shaped by care and time. Bon Accord Baths opens its doors on 19 and 20 July, and again on 26 and 27 July, for an exciting exhibition from Grampian Hospitals Art Trust (GHAT). It highlights artwork that’s changed the atmosphere of hospitals across the region.
For decades, staff across NHS Grampian have helped decide what hangs in corridors and wards. These aren’t works chosen for prestige, but for how they sit in a space where people are waiting, healing or working long hours. That approach began in the 1980s with a simple question: could art make hospitals feel a little more human? Since then, the GHAT collection has grown to include over 4,000 pieces. Most have been passed without much fanfare—seen on the way to work or while waiting on a scan.
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From hospital corridors to the Baths
Bon Accord Baths is one of the last Art Deco pools in Scotland, closed since 2008. For many in Aberdeen, it holds many memories but still feels full of potential. That suspended state makes it a strangely natural setting for art that’s always been part of the background, not the spotlight but have accompanied daily life. Some of the pieces haven’t been shown publicly in years.
The exhibition reflects on GHAT’s 40-year history, from early donations of prints and paintings to more recent additions shaped by new ways of collecting. Involving NHS staff in selecting what appears in clinical spaces has become central to how the collection works. By bringing this exhibition into a central public venue, the team invites more people to see how that process has evolved and why it continues to matter.
There’s also a connection in placing artwork from hospitals inside another kind of care space. The Baths once supported wellbeing in a very different form. Though the building has fallen out of regular use, its sense of public value remains.
A small way to take part
The exhibition is open across two weekends. On the first, there will be badge-making with peacock & the worm. It’s a simple way to engage with the collection and take home a badge made from artwork in the show.
You don’t need to know anything about the history of GHAT or Bon Accord Baths to enjoy the show. You might just be curious about the space, or want to see the images that have lived on hospital walls.
The exhibition runs 19–20 and 26–27 July, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free but donations support the Baths. This is a chance to see how care and creativity have shaped the collection across four decades.
