I have just been given a new brief for university which is in collaboration with Age UK. It is all about gathering stories from people who have early on set dementia. We will be visiting 2 day centres and will be able to speak one to one with someone, finding out "five things we didn't know" about them. Presenting their eventful lives will show these people for who they really are with the hope of challenging the preconceptions we have towards those who are affected by dementia. Their condition is not what we want them to be known for, but for all the things they have done and are doing in their lives.
I will be recording the conversation and will take notes and illustrations to help me work towards the production of a final image. It will be used in an A5 book that will promote the idea of these people as 'real people', and it will be accompanied by a small transcript. This is a great collaboration and I am looking forward to creating the book and being able to present my own vision of something they have described to me.
Those who have recently been diagnosed with dementia have had the chance to produce their own life story books, which remind them of the journey they have taken through life e.g, their marriage, the birth of their children and who all of their relatives are. Yet there are many who may not have had this experience, after already speaking to 3 ladies who have dementia, it seems very clear how important the books have been to them.
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