Pelican

This picture is part of the exhibition "Words from the Wards" in the Edinburgh Futures Institute where the International Book Festival is taking place. The Futures Institute is housed in the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary building and this exhibition grew out of a Book Festival communities project in 2024. Here's what the exhibition had to say about the project:

"Last year, through our Words from the Wards project, we asked the people of Edinburgh to share stories about the former Royal Infirmary, to honour the experiences and memories that people connect with the building’s previous life. Following the success of the project, we worked with Edinburgh College of Art students to illustrate the collected stories."

I chose this image partly because I am a pelican: that is to say, I trained as a nurse at the Royal Infirmary and other hospitals in the south of Edinburgh and I worked in the Infirmary for a year after qualifying, when I received my pelican badge. Legend has it that the pelican pierces its breast to draw blood to feed its young and this image of self-sacrifice is meant to reflect the lengths that nurses are prepared to go to in caring for their patients. I very much doubt whether today's nursing profession would endorse this! 

I spent the day at the Book Festival with JP where we heard Sara Sheridan speak about her book "On Starlit Seas" and after a main course in the Canopy Restaurant we went to an interesting and accessible event on freedom of expression. After that we went back to the restaurant for pudding and coffee which we hadn't had time for earlier. Lastly we went to this exhibition but didn't have the energy to see all of it. I'll go back to see the rest when I'm there for other events.