This month, Art on the Underground is unveiling a new artwork at Stratford station, London, by the Kurdish artist Ahmet Öğüt, entitled Saved by the Whale’s Tail, Saved by Art. It was inspired by a metro accident outside Rotterdam in which the train overran the elevated station stop, but was saved from plunging into the water below by a 10-metre-high sculpture of a whale’s tail, one of two placed there by artist Maarten Struijs. There were no passengers on board, and the driver managed to escape unharmed.
Was this a one-off? Have there been other works of art that have played a rescue role? Or is their potential for salvation solely restricted to the spiritual? Astrid, Coventry
Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.
Readers reply
A one-off, due to a vanishingly unlikely coincidence. The whale tail sculpture’s ability to support the weight of the train without breaking was an unexpected fluke – and it would never have happened at all had it not been for its amazingly serendipitous location at what should surely now be known as Rotterdam whale-weigh station. ThereisnoOwl
The art therapist Margaret Naumburg successfully worked with schizophrenic patients during the second world war at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, using arts therapy as a first-line treatment. Allen Ginsberg was treated similarly at the same hospital in 1949 and went on to have a career as a major and influential poet. Thomas Hennell recovered from a schizophrenic episode while painting a mural at Claybury mental hospital in the 1930s, and went on to become a war artist. dave56
I’m not sure the spiritual is divorced from the physical. It’s a continuum. Art has been a thread throughout my life, from being old enough to hold a drawing implement. It has allowed me to express myself, explore the world and what’s going on in my head, move through time. It’s a flow that I follow, like a little boat on a river, sometimes flowing fast and sometimes barely flowing at all, but always at the heart of who I am. It’s saved me many times. LorLala
Doing art can save lives. Seeing art can be inspirational, but practising creativity is how many lives have been saved. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t still be here if not for creativity. kiramango
There was that one time when a man was almost killed by a train coming out of his own fireplace, but luckily it turned out to be just a painting by Magritte. misrule
Olafur Eliasson uses art to raise awareness of humankind’s role in causing climate collapse, specifically by using melting ice installations in cities across the globe. Hopefully, their expected impact might change a few minds, perhaps some influential ones, who might change the course of history … and halt the extinction of most species. woodworm20
If we are including music, then yes, art can save lives. At 13, I’d decided to kill myself and put on a Suicidal Tendencies album while I thought about the best way to do it. I loved their music but had never paid much attention to the lyrics before. But for the first time, as I lay there, I listened to the lyrics, which often dealt with the singer’s mental health issues. Realising that there were others out there who were struggling as well made me feel not so alone and isolated. Hectormandarin
There was a study that showed male suicide levels went down significantly when a football World Cup was on. Even in countries that hadn’t qualified. Whether it was a distraction, or a reason to get out of bed, or a community feeling, who knows? I would think that art would be positive for mental health under a similar idea. PeteTheBeat
Looking slightly askance at the question, there’s the Trump takeover of a centre of art in Washington DC. The subsequent artist and audience boycott of the centre may be a small contribution towards the saving of lives if it contributes to the end of the Trump era. IcommentthereforeIam
In 1984, I was a teenage dance student at Phnom Penh’s School of Fine Arts who was sent on a tour of a remote region of the Cambodian countryside. At that time, the country was in the middle of a civil war in which villages controlled by the government during the day were controlled by Khmer Rouge guerrillas at night. The government wanted to prove to its traumatised people that it was authentically Khmer. So, on its behalf, my fellow traditional performing arts students and I travelled along muddy roads in a bus, and staged dances and plays in fields or village squares for farmers and other rural people. One morning, we were having noodles in a market when the vendor informed us that Khmer Rouge fighters had come to our performance the previous evening armed with rocket launchers, with the intention of slaughtering us. But they liked the dancing so much that they stayed until the end, clapped and returned to their base without firing a shot. As a result, I can answer the question based on first-hand experience: yes. Art can save lives. Sophiline Cheam-Shapiro, Phnom Penh
In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
