A story of how art can transform and save lives launched today at Stratford station as part of a participatory artwork by Ahmet Öğüt with Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Art on the Underground programme and emerging artist platform New Contemporaries, with a new visual artwork introduced on the station’s mezzanine.
Conceptual artist Öğüt initiated his commission in April 2025, inspired by an incident in Rotterdam in 2020 in which an out-of-service train overran the stop blocks at a station during a safety run and was saved from falling into the water below by a giant whale sculpture. Öğüt began to explore the role art plays in everyday life and whether art can cause transformation rather than just represent it. In April a poster campaign launched across the London Underground network, calling on the public to share stories of when art has saved, transformed or reshaped them.
From the open call New Contemporaries received hundreds of stories and a panel, including Öğüt, selected The Bracelet by doctor Helen Whitley as its winning story, which is included as part of the installation at Stratford station from today. The Bracelet’s message is: ‘Medicine teaches you to look fast. Art teaches you to look again,’ and calls on Whitley’s experience as a doctor and artist. The story, along with an interview with Öğüt and submissions from three runners-up, is available to read in a new free publication available at the station and online.
Depicting a whale’s tail emerging from the sea, a new artwork by Öğüt can be seen across Stratford station’s mezzanine, featuring Whitley’s story and Saved by Art, Saved by the Whale’s Tail installed on the balcony. Stratford station, which is served by DLR, Elizabeth line, London Overground and London Underground services, is one of the busiest stations in the UK, with more than 56 million entries and exits in 2024.
Ahmet Öğüt, ‘Saved by the Whale’s Tail, Saved by Art’, 2025, Stratford station. Commissioned by Art on the Underground and New Contemporaries. Photo: GG Archard.
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Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, said: “Art on the Underground has been bringing leading international artists to the spaces of the Tube for 25 years. In 2025, we continue this tradition, with a series of thoughtful commissions that foreground interactions with art in daily life. Öğüt’s project connects with the essential quality of art – to save us, literally and figuratively. There is no space like the Tube to reflect on these public stories, reaching millions of Londoners and visitors alike. This commission brings us together as we travel though the city by exploring the profound importance of art to our individual life stories.”
