The ‘La Morinais’ Day Treatment Centre (CTJ) in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande is a healthcare facility belonging to the Guillaume Régnier Hospital Centre that offers patients an alternative to hospitalisation. Established in 2013 in a new building in the heart of a recently developed neighbourhood, the staff and patients of the C.T.J. commissioned a work of art to mark this place in its territory.

This new branch has been established in an urban neighbourhood where housing and multiple service activities coexist, raising the issue of the relationship between these activities and a social life that is more intense than before. The patrons wanted to commission an artist to create a work for patients, healthcare staff and also people in the neighbourhood who do not visit the centre. Their aim is for the centre’s location in this new context to help destigmatise psychiatry.

Doctors, nurses and users of the C.T.J. wanted to sponsor a work that would contribute to changing perceptions of patients and emphasise the ideas of serenity and tranquillity of the place, while also being stimulating for users. The patrons wanted to promote the new building’s identity and work to change the public’s perception of the centre’s activities and beneficiaries. They also wanted to emphasise its warm, protective and open-to-the-outside aspect, as well as encourage people to enter the premises and increase the desire for users to leave this refuge and go out into the world.