The Waiting Room / Dementia Tableau
DEMENTIA TABLEAU
Suspension Chair
Modified armchair and shower stool. Personal articles left by an elderly female dementia victim compose the imagery of custom designed/ printed upholstery fabric
Fragmented Patchwork: Granny Square Composite
Found clothing sewn to crocheted squares of recycled clothing, created in part by community workshop attendees
Holding On: A Life Jacket
Altered vintage life jacket, detailed with crocheted thread, nylon, personal mementos and watches
Floating
Lambda platinum print encased in acrylic: life-sized, photographic ‘preserved specimen’ from Dementia Tableau Suspension Chair fabric
Unanswered
Headphones; audio recordings and sound compositions: Mothers and Daughters, Crossword Alzheimer’s
An overstuffed armchair and shower stool/ottoman might offer respite for our dementia or Alzheimer’s sufferer or caretaker. But this seat is ripped open with springs exposed; stuffed with clock and watch parts. Colorful fabric printed with jumbled female clothing— floating nighties, robes, socks —covers this chair, while the cushion on the floor is tethered loosely to the leg by a coiled rope. For, this “seat cushion is also a floatation device.”
Life-sized printed photographs of the same clothing covering the chair are encapsulated in acrylic, like specimens in a medical museum. Hovering directly on the wall are shredded garments and kept mementos crocheted into traditional ‘granny squares.’ This is literally and figuratively a fragmented history – the patchwork of an individual mind, a lost generation of craft. Similarly, an uplifted life preserver is offered to keep the patient or caretaker from drowning in dissolving memories, but alas, it is bound and laden with the detritus of the everyday.
While Alzheimer’s is a degenerative neurological disease, multi-infarct dementia (MID) is a vascular disorder that can result from depression, chronic drug use, and infections such as HIV; and can cause multiple strokes. Rates of Alzheimer's may be rising due to a growing aging population, but other major contributing factors remain a mystery.
What is clear is that women are at the center of this epidemic. A recent study jointly commissioned by the American Alzheimer’s Association and Maria Shriver‘s A Woman’s Nation found that 2/3 of all Alzheimer’s patients are female. This is only part of the story, as most of the 43.5 million Americans providing unpaid care for their relatives are also women.
A small tableau element represents hope for a cure, however. Rather than initials, the embroidered monogram on the slippers, “BACE, ” stands for beta secretase enzymes, contributors to the production of the plaques that cause nerve damage in Alzheimer’s. Experimental drugs to block this enzyme (BACE inhibitors) could slow or stop the disease – exciting research that may result in longer, more productive and happy lives.
The Waiting Room / Dementia Tableau
DEMENTIA TABLEAU
Suspension Chair
Modified armchair and shower stool. Personal articles left by an elderly female dementia victim compose the imagery of custom designed/ printed upholstery fabric
Fragmented Patchwork: Granny Square Composite
Found clothing sewn to crocheted squares of recycled clothing, created in part by community workshop attendees
Holding On: A Life Jacket
Altered vintage life jacket, detailed with crocheted thread, nylon, personal mementos and watches
Floating
Lambda platinum print encased in acrylic: life-sized, photographic ‘preserved specimen’ from Dementia Tableau Suspension Chair fabric
Unanswered
Headphones; audio recordings and sound compositions: Mothers and Daughters, Crossword Alzheimer’s
An overstuffed armchair and shower stool/ottoman might offer respite for our dementia or Alzheimer’s sufferer or caretaker. But this seat is ripped open with springs exposed; stuffed with clock and watch parts. Colorful fabric printed with jumbled female clothing— floating nighties, robes, socks —covers this chair, while the cushion on the floor is tethered loosely to the leg by a coiled rope. For, this “seat cushion is also a floatation device.”
Life-sized printed photographs of the same clothing covering the chair are encapsulated in acrylic, like specimens in a medical museum. Hovering directly on the wall are shredded garments and kept mementos crocheted into traditional ‘granny squares.’ This is literally and figuratively a fragmented history – the patchwork of an individual mind, a lost generation of craft. Similarly, an uplifted life preserver is offered to keep the patient or caretaker from drowning in dissolving memories, but alas, it is bound and laden with the detritus of the everyday.
While Alzheimer’s is a degenerative neurological disease, multi-infarct dementia (MID) is a vascular disorder that can result from depression, chronic drug use, and infections such as HIV; and can cause multiple strokes. Rates of Alzheimer's may be rising due to a growing aging population, but other major contributing factors remain a mystery.
What is clear is that women are at the center of this epidemic. A recent study jointly commissioned by the American Alzheimer’s Association and Maria Shriver‘s A Woman’s Nation found that 2/3 of all Alzheimer’s patients are female. This is only part of the story, as most of the 43.5 million Americans providing unpaid care for their relatives are also women.
A small tableau element represents hope for a cure, however. Rather than initials, the embroidered monogram on the slippers, “BACE, ” stands for beta secretase enzymes, contributors to the production of the plaques that cause nerve damage in Alzheimer’s. Experimental drugs to block this enzyme (BACE inhibitors) could slow or stop the disease – exciting research that may result in longer, more productive and happy lives.