About Fiona
Former patient at RIE.
Fiona stayed in RIE for a dental surgery during which she had her wisdom teeth removed.
At the time of our meeting, we could not trace where the department of oral surgery used to be, as it was not marked on the old floorplans by which we located ourselves. Therefore, we decided to take the portrait in a well-lit area on the 4th floor of the building. Later on, I discovered that the oral surgery department used to be in the medical part of the hospital, in a space currently occupied by tenement buildings on Simpson loan. Symbolically, the space we chose for the portrait overlooks these buildings on Simpson loan.
The photograph refers to two stories. The first one is captured by the word ‘Secrets’ and is told by Fiona in her written piece. The second story is captured by the nut in Fiona’s hand. Fiona told me that after her surgery, as soon as the visitors were allowed to visit her in the ward, she was visited by her boyfriend. He brought her a book, her favourite flowers, and… a bag of nut brittle. The sense of absurd humor revealed through this gesture made Fiona think for the first time that he may be the man she wants to marry. And 15 months down the line after the hospital stay, they did marry, and have now been together for more than 40 years.
“It was odd but the little woman in the next bed told a story of having tripped over the lead of one of her yappy little dogs and whacked her head against the wooden panel of her corner sofa.
Her husband was with her, seeming very concerned.
I took her tale at face value. Despite a spell as a volunteer for Women’s Aid, at no point did it occur to me to wonder if there was any other cause. I was literally unable to speak in any case, and even if I had been more aware, this was by no means the appropriate time or place for the conversation.
Much later, I spoke to my dentist who said that the conversation could not have happened.
She then told me – swearing to secrecy – about a dental patient who had to be taken to A&E before any form of conventional treatment could take place. And her nurse chimed in with the story of her friend whose partner expressed his jealousy via his fists.
Dentist and I said – in chorus, with one voice – get her out of there!
Dentistry holds many secrets.”
Fiona Allen
Written during the Recycling a Hospital poetry workshop
