Filipino nurse John Yayen turns migrant health workers' stories into Embers of Care portraits

Filipino nurse and artist John Yayen is creating Embers of Care, a 100-portrait series honouring the internationally educated nurses, doctors and care workers who keep the UK's health system running, Nurse.org reported. His paintings hang in Royal Marsden Hospital, the Royal College of Nursing's permanent collection and NHS trusts from Oxford to Newcastle to Sheffield.

Filipino nurse John Yayen has turned the stories of migrant health workers into Embers of Care, a 100-portrait series honouring the internationally educated nurses, doctors and care workers who keep the UK's health system running, Nurse.org reported on 21 October. Yayen, who trained as a nurse in Palawan, spoke about the project on the Love n' Leary Nursing Podcast.

A hard first winter

Nurse.org reported that Yayen moved to Cambridge after his wife took up a UK scholarship, and the couple decided to stay for a mix of family and political considerations. UK nursing licensure took two years, and by 2022 he was practising as a nurse. He started painting to get through his first full UK winter. "I live in a tropical country, and I was really struggling with winter," he said.

From a small flat to the NHS

Yayen began donating pieces to save space in a small flat. "I decided to donate one of my artworks in order for us to save space, and some institutions and hospitals accepted it, and the rest is history," he said. Today, Embers of Care paintings hang in Royal Marsden Hospital in London, in the permanent collection of the Royal College of Nursing, and in NHS trusts from Oxford to Newcastle to Sheffield.

Counterpoints Arts says that across 2025 Yayen collaborated with 19 NHS Trusts, gathering narratives from migrant healthcare workers across England. Nurse.org reported that he listens for what his subjects share about their passages into the UK's health system, from a bank account that took weeks to open to a clinical culture that worked by rules nobody wrote down.

Newcastle Hospitals Charity says Yayen worked with two staff members who migrated from outside the UK to create a painting reflecting on their journeys and experiences. The completed paintings are on public display in the New Vic Wing at the RVI alongside portraits from several other NHS trusts.

"We're also people"

According to Nurse.org, for migrant nurses the paintings are a mirror, and for local staff, patients and leaders they are an invitation to see the hands that have been there all along. Yayen said:

"We're not just workers here, we're also people. I want the locals... to know what are the nuances and layers."

Asked what he would tell nurses with creative ambitions, Yayen said: "I think my advice is just do it. If you want to be an artist, contribute to your hospital. If you want to be a singer, why not compose some songs?" Nurse.org reported that he plans to stop at 100.

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