I Fixed his Clock
Eleanor Jones
We spent a lot of time chatting throughout my shift – he liked watching football, he’d never been abroad, and he was unhappy that his clock was broken.
During mealtimes I sat with him; someone did this every day to be able to track his food intake. I was surprised that he always cleared his plate, and even reminded staff that he needed an afternoon snack. However, after meals he would spend a lot of time in the bathroom, the nurses suspected he was throwing up and a new wound on his finger seemed to confirm their suspicions. It upset me that nothing was being done to stop this – he wasn’t under section or one-to-one care, so he could not be supervised all of the time.,
One patient had said to me that hospital was like living from ‘meal to meal’ and how much they looked forward to them. This was such a contrast to this gentleman, although food was also the focus of his hospital existence, it was the cause of his condition and perhaps also his unhappiness.
I chose to create this piece in dots. 129,600 dots – the number of seconds I spent in hospital undertaking my shifts.
I based my clock on Salvador Dali’s melting clocks – a representation of his distorted body image and distorted relationship with food. Taking the time to do this piece (in Pointillism) gave me the chance to wonder how he was doing and whether he had been sent home yet. It also gave me time to think about the important roles other healthcare professionals play in the care of a patient, in this case particularly the eating disorder therapists. I never found out the cause of his anorexia during our talks.
I fixed his clock, I was glad I was able to do something to help, however small.
First Prize-winner of the annual EC Creative Competition.
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This is a striking piece of artwork, made even more heart-breaking by the story behind it. The use of pointillism is striking, the disjointedness highlighting the patient’s fragility as a result of his eating disorder, as well as representing the time the artist spent with him whilst on clinical placement. The portrayal of the patient’s skeletal frame emphasises the physical impacts of anorexia, whilst the nod to Dali’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’ adds a layer of surrealism to the piece, highlighting the psychological toll of eating disorders. Anorexia warps the way patients view everything from the body image to their relationships with others, until their perception of the world is just as distorted as the clock on the patient’s shoulder. Finally, the title ‘I fixed his clock’ is particularly poignant, as it highlights how helpless the artist felt with regards to the patient’s care; she couldn’t supervise him at all hours of the day and didn’t ever learn the root cause of his mental health condition, but she listened to him, sat with him and fixed his clock – small actions with a much larger impact.
I was drawn to this piece because the image of Dali’s melting clock transplanted onto an old man’s shoulder was intriguing, and the title “I fixed his clock” made me want to know more about what was happening to this old man. The encounter the artist describes with the old man is both thought-provoking and heartbreaking. I too had never heard of elderly people having eating disorders, which has reminded me that you cannot always make assumptions about patient’s health. Additionally, the artist’s pointing out that food was as much the focus as it was the cause of the old man’s stay in hospital reminded me that patients’ decision-making about their health is always complex and can be difficult to understand and empathise with. The fact that the artist never found out the cause of the patient’s anorexia, despite having spent a lot of time with him, reinforces this message and illustrates that as a medical student constantly moving through different placements you usually will never know what becomes of the patients you spend so much time with. The centring of the piece on just the patient’s shoulder with the melting clock placed on it, conveys the idea although the artist/student was not able to understand the whole of this patient, they were at least able to make some sort of difference. In this case, that meant fixing his clock. The focus on this aspect of the patient, and the use of pointillism to emphasise the time spent with patients, shows that the fact that the artist was able to help the patient in some way is hugely important to her as well.
This piece of artwork highlights that medicine will forever break down boundaries of what is viewed as typical within healthcare. Anorexia is a health disorder very closely associated with the younger generation, so to see a depiction of an elderly man suffering from it is both refreshing and heartbreaking. The level of importance we give to people with ED should not differ with age, and this piece shows the difficulties it can create. The choice to create the piece in dots is very interesting- it is an astonishing amount of time and effort to create the work this way, and nowhere near the amount of time the gentleman spends by himself in the hospital. The idea that the problems he spoke about were of his broken clock and not his struggles with food speaks volumes about how much people (especially men) feel able to speak about what they’re struggling with. I especially like how the clock is like a chip in his shoulder, and how it shows that things that may seem small may have big impacts on elderly people. There is a sense of minimalism to the art work, it is black and white and does not jump out at you on the page. But it goes to show that simple things are a lot deeper under the surface, and I hope it has raised awareness that we should not assume that any disease has its limits with who it affects
this piece of art is particularly striking as the portrayal of Dali’s clock suggests how our days are numbered and life is fragile. it can suggest the hardships and suffering people undergo when their life is coming to an end. the fact that the clock is wilting shows how unpleasant life can be at times. the focus on how skinny the man is highlights the physical and mental effects that anorexia and other eating disorders can have on an individual. by portraying the man via pointillism and in black and white, the bleakness of eating disorders and other illnesses is emphasised whilst also suggesting how it greatly affects those surrounding the man as well as the individual himself. pointillism is a very time consuming method of artwork and the amount of time the artist spent in hospital on placement is displayed-it shows how powerful an impact this patient had on the artist and the bond they have developed which is particularly striking and powerful. with reference to other reviews the title ‘I fixed his clock’ shows how much of a responsibility the artist had for this man and how they were with him for his whole journey in hospital and got to witness his recovery from anorexia first hand
One of the first aspects of the piece that drew my interest was the title, “I fixed his clock”. I was intrigued to read through the artist’s depiction, their story and how the piece came to be; upon further reading, it is clear why the artist had used pointillism. They had spent 129,600 seconds in the hospital, of which there was one dot, one moment, where they had noticed a change in a patient’s demeanour. This one moment had a spiralling effect on the patient, and so raised questions about care. The addition of Dali’s clock undoubtedly brings a sense of sorrow to the overall piece. The artist, like Dali, highlights the inevitable fluidity and passage of time, that upon a blink, anything could happen. From my interpretation, the clock is sat positioned looming over the patient shoulder depicting the weight of emotion, as well as the burden that he may carry over his shoulders; this encompasses the effect that illness can have on any given individual, especially in one where the disease in question is not spoken about as much, being that he is elderly whereas this illness is spoken about much more in younger individuals. Furthermore, the artist highlights how small changes in actions, as simple as speaking to those around us may have a postive effect on mental health, she was able to help fix his clock.
The attention to detail in this piece made it stand out to me. The artist used “129,600 dots – the number of seconds I spent in hospital undertaking my shifts” which has not only made the piece beautifully fluid, but added a layer of meaning and personal experience. The image of the clock on the frail body suggests to me that when you encounter patients with eating disorders, even if you can help “fix” some things about them such as the clock, it is incredicbly hard and sometimes unachievable to help them fully recover- the man still struggles despite al the help and years of growth and learning experiences.
Before seeing this piece, I had not considered that elderly patients’ suffer from eating disorders as younger people do, highlighting the complexity of eating disorders and how/ why they can arise. I often associate them with the pressures of growing up, not feeling comfortable in your body and trying to exert some form of control in a very overwhelming period of life. This is something I wouldn’t associate with older patients, who seem to be more accepting of themselves and their lives. It emphasises that these issues are something that can prevail throughout life and don’t just go as you get older. The use of pointillism is absolutely incredible and I commend the time and effort it took to carry that out. The thousands of tiny dots seem to highlight how the patient has been left to waste away with his eating disorder, that didn’t seem to be taken as seriously as perhaps it would have with a younger person. To me the clock appears to go over his heart and the constant ticking of the newly fixed clock seems to reflect the beating of the patient’s heart. Medical students often feel helpless in patient treatment but the fixing of his clock represents only the surface of what your company might have meant to him and by fixing his clock you made a lot of difference to his heart.
Drawing from personal experiences, I have found myself in similar situations where the vulnerability of patients to their conditions and surroundings is very moving. What made this piece resonate with me is the medical student’s keen insight into the profound impact a seemingly small gesture—repairing the man’s clock—can have on someone grappling with immense challenges. The piece not only highlights the transformative power of compassionate actions but also prompts viewers to reflect on broader issues such as the pervasive stigma and biases surrounding certain health conditions. It emphasises the importance of treating each person as a unique individual, as vividly illustrated by the vastly different perspectives of the two patients portrayed in the medical student’s explanation of the piece. Moreover, the piece delves into the complex interplay between healthcare provision and its repercussions on patients. In summary, the narrative and its accompanying description serve as a thought-provoking exploration of human connection, societal attitudes towards health, and the intricate dynamics of healthcare delivery.
This piece instantly caught my attention because of its striking image. The incorporation of Dali’s melting clock both in a literal way, associating it with the gentleman’s own clock that was broken, as well as metaphorically, commenting on the distorted view of himself, creates a striking image. The ability to fix the clock that can represent the physical aspects of an eating disorder, such as making sure the gentleman was finishing his meals, does not necessarily mean that the underlying cause is not always tackled, making recovery extremely difficult. That is an extremely important issue that is brought to light through this piece, adding layers of complexity and meaning. Additionally, at a first glance the minimalist look of the piece being black and white, and then understanding the complexity of making this art piece using pointillism, brings forward and important point of “things sometimes are not as simple as they may appear” which I believe is a notion that especially when dealing with patients with mental health issues and eating disorders, one must keep in mind.
I was drawn to this piece initially due to the poignant and stark title. The incorporation of Dali’s melting clocks to symbolise time as something surreal is especially relevant as in hospitals it is often said that time doesn’t feel real in there, and the absence of much social interaction- save for mealtimes- marks just how fleeting and dreamlike time may feel to a patient. Furthermore, the heartbreaking case of this patient’s anorexia marks how eating disorders are almost always wrongfully portrayed in the media, and that it is in fact a multi-causal, complex disease affecting far more ages, genders and races than one may realise. In summary, the simple task of fixing one man’s clock seems to allude to the bigger picture of whilst you may not always be able to fix someone, you can almost always repair one part.
This piece evokes a complex mix of emotions. There’s a sense of empathy and frustration—empathy for a man fighting an illness, and frustration at the limitations of care that mean he can’t be properly supported. The clock imposed on a frail body, gives a haunting sense of time slipping away.
The dedication in creating 129,600 dots feels both meditative and bittersweet, symbolizing time, care, and a hope that the artist’s presence might make a difference.