On August 8, 2025, care teams, family and friends gathered to celebrate Ryan Fitzgibbon's heartfelt photographs taken during his health journey.
Credit
Ryan Fitzgibbon
When Ryan Fitzgibbon spent the better part of recent years in and out of hospitals, undergoing intensive treatment for a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell, he didn’t expect to find beauty.
But leave it to a photographer to find just that.
From April 2022 to August 2025, he took numerous photographs that he says, “reflect the evolving views from my hospital rooms–how they changed day to day, from one room to the next, shaped by mood, light, and season.”
During his final months in the hospital in the Davies 5 Medicine unit, recreation therapist Justine Carlson, program manager Jaima Gilchrist, social worker Jessica Thorley and spiritual health practitioner Tim De Jonge worked with Fitzgibbon to organize an art show last month.
In addition to staff from Davies 5, staff from the intensive care unit and oncology unit were invited to the showcase, along with friends and family.
The collection of photographs, which will be a permanent art installation in a Kidd 9 hallway, explores the shifting perspectives he experienced during his stays at Kingston Health Sciences Centre’s Kingston General Hospital (KGH) site.
“What began as moments of stillness became a way to see the world differently—from a place of vulnerability, yes, but also of unexpected beauty. Creating became a way to stay grounded and connected, even on the hardest days.”
Now in remission, Fitzgibbon continues to pursue photography with the same quiet dedication he carried through treatment. Working from a wheelchair has brought new challenges, but also new perspectives.
His work remains focused on connection and presence—shaped by what he’s been through, but never defined by it.
After seeing the following photos at the art show, care-team members expressed that it was a powerful reminder of what patients see from day to day.
Hopeful light
Dreaming over Kingston
Framed in firelight
Hope view
Quiet storm
Between hospital walls
Wings over winter
Still power
Quiet strength
A window divided
Between stone and sky
