Photos from the Exhibit at Palm Springs Art Museum at Palm Desert

In October, the Love, Loss, and Laughter photos were on exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum at Palm Desert. On the opening evening, there was a screening of Corinne Maunder's film Love, Loss, and Laughter: Seeing Dementia Differently. Corinne was on-hand to join in the panel discussion after the filming, as was yours truly, along with Dr. Christopher Hancock and Dr. Christopher Flores. Thank you to the Alzheimer's Association Choachella Valley Regional Services for organizing this event.

If you click on the graphic below, you can see some photos of the evening.

The Australian Tour Continues!

A colleague saw the following announcement on Facebook today, along with a lovely photo and many "likes" and "shares!" If you are in NSW Australia, I hope you can visit the photo exhibit. Please contact me at cathy@lovelossandlaughter.com if you are interested in bringing this exhibit to your city as part of a campaign to raise awareness of dementia.

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The big day has finally arrived! NSW Parliament House looks great for the launch of American Sociologist Cathy Greenblat’s exhibition Love, Loss and Laughter: Seeing Dementia Differently. 

Cathy has captured living with dementia in eight different countries including images from Sydney, the Hunter and the Central Coast. 

This is the final stop on the Australian tour for Love, Loss and Laughter. You can catch Love, Loss and Laughter at the Fountain Court at NSW Parliament House, Monday to Friday from 9am until 4.30pm until November 27.

When Alzheimer's inspires art that inspires art: PART 2

A few days ago I told you about Bisakha and the umbrella dance that was inspired by a photo in Love, Loss, and Laughter of two people sheltering under an umbrella.

Maureen Cullen contacted me to let me know about All Write Then, a group of new writers that has put together a charity anthology of poetry and fiction called Still Me. All profits from Still Me will go to the Alzheimer’s Society. The poems and short stories in Still Me explore the themes of love, loss, and laughter, through "characters who gallivant across the pages, some falteringly and others at a lickety-split."

Maureen was kind enough to send me a copy of Still Me. It is a charming collection, and I am impressed by the diversity of the themes and the entries. 

You can purchase a copy of Still Me by clicking here, or on Amazon.

The All Write Blog can be found by clicking here.

I asked Maureen if I could share a poem from Still Me with all of you. She suggested the following lovely short poem by group member Maggie Mackay as an example of the poetry included in the book. Thank you Maureen and to the writers in All Write Then!

Cannas and Cordylines

Cannas and cordylines guided me

through the gates;

sunbursts, rude red-copper,

in rows along the fence.

These days palm fronds thud like sentries

fainting after days on duty,

as my head, bearing a dry season too,

mulches half dreams,

faded senses.

-Maggie Mackay 2013

When Alzheimer's inspires art that inspires art

In the past few months I have had communications from two people who told me that my photographs in Love, Loss and Laughter inspired their art. What an honor! 

The first was from Bisakha, a wonderful Indian dancer who performed at the September 2012 conference on art and Alzheimer's at the University of Worcester in the UK. Her dance enchanted everyone present and we exchanged cards. A few months later she wrote to tell me that she had used one of the photos, fully enlarged on the screen, as the backdrop and inspiration for a dance performance. 

About the same time I received a message from Maureen Cullen telling me that her writing group in the UK had been inspired by the book and she sent me a copy of the book they had produced. 

Over the next few days I will tell you more about these two projects, and will provide you with the email addresses of both of them should you want more information. To start, below is Bisakha's overview of "Fleeting Moment," her dementia-friendly dance performance.

Thank you Bisakha and Maureen.

Inspiration of Love Loss and Laughter (LLL )

I can not single out one comment or incident as the inspiration behind "Fleeting Moment," our dementia-friendly performance, but Cathy Greenblat's book Love, Loss, and Laughter, and her lecture definitely influenced my thinking and the making of this production .

Our idea of a dementia-friendly performance is an inclusive event in a mainstream arts venue to uplift the spirit of the audience, irrespective of their health concerns. We created a performance prioritizing the needs of those living with dementia, taking into consideration concerns that stop people living with dementia and their carers from attending performances.

Our initial consultation with people living with early stages of dementia and the network of their care providers highlighted several points. We incorporated them in the designing of the structure of the performance. I still had no idea of what should be its content. 

While the content should not deny the condition, it should also not dwell on it for too long. This is where it must remain different from issue-based work.

A photograph from the book Love, Loss, and Laughter caught my attention. It was an image of two people under an umbrella, crossing the road on a wet day. I saw a connection between this image and a Chinese dance with umbrellas.

Our artistic team reflects the 21st century cultural diversity of the country. It includes Indian, Chinese and Western contemporary dancers, as well as an English singer and a musician who creates music using instruments from all over the world.

Our "umbrella dance" starts with a large projection of the photograph. In the production my role is that of a dancing narrator. I come in with my umbrella to introduce the dance and the picture. Referring to the caption from the book, I address the audience saying, "As umbrellas protect us from rain, we need to make virtual umbrellas with love that protect our LOVED ones (I deliberately avoided mentioning Alzheimer’s). The next item is an umbrella dance. While we watch the dance, let’s think who could come under our umbrellas and what will we make our umbrellas with."

This leads us to a traditional Chinese umbrella dance. As that dance finishes, other dancers enter with their clear plastic umbrellas decorated sparingly with words from Tom Kitwood's definition of what constitutes care and other similar expressions and symbols of caring. After dancing a short while, showing simple movements with the umbrellas, supported by  volunteers they give out umbrellas to the audience and invite them to join in. Before long, the performing space starts to buzz with small conversations, exchange of smiles, laughter and joyful casual dancing.

During the first performance I asked the person standing next to me, "Can I come under your umbrella?" He said, "Yes my dear, you most certainly can." Under the umbrella we found a few moments to chat. I wanted to know what will he make the umbrella with? Straight away came the answer "harmony."

There seemed no difference among the people freely sharing with each other. In that crowd there were people with many identities but none defined by any deficit. There were artists, students, officials of funding bodies, parents, partners, therapists, people living with dementia, people caring for others, residents from care homes and medical professionals, all of them enjoying being present at that moment.

For the second phase we took a bolder decision to invite three people with dementia and their carers to come and stay with us in a residency for three nights and help us prepare the next performance. It was no easy task to find people who were prepared to take this risk. Two of the three couples came forward because of the umbrella dance. They had come to see the first performance. Val and Pat, the two wives who were the carers of their husbands, had found it pleasantly surprising to see how much their husbands had enjoyed joining in the umbrella dance. They decided to come forward.

During the Choreo-lab, we were debating whether to have the projection of the photograph. Some thought because there was no direct interaction between the dance and the image it was not necessary to have it in the background. It was doing nothing more than making a reference to the book Love, Loss, and Laughter.  I knew that for the first performance I needed the image to "hold my hand." Emotional connections help to give a convincing performance.

The question was do I still need this emotional anchor for the second performance or can the dance now stand on its own strength? Although it did not feel right without the image to make the reference to, still I prepared myself to take the risk.

When we asked the opinion of our guest consultants, Val and Pat strongly opposed the idea. They were familiar with the image which they had seen in another context related to care of people living with dementia. We were even told the story behind the image; until then we did not know it.

The projection of the image stayed in. I was glad. It was not just my dependency; it was important to give the audience we are aiming to reach a reference which has association to the world of their own experience.

Using Cathy Greenblat's photograph is giving us credibility among the audience members whose lives have been, in one way or another, affected by dementia.

Bisakha can be reached at bisakha@blueyonder.co.uk

Feedback about Love, Loss, and Laughter -- The Film

Thank you to all of you who have shared Corinne's film, Love, Loss, and Laughter. With your help, the film has now been viewed hundreds of times since its release on September 21, World Alzheimer's Day. And this film deserves to be seen, as the Australian film maker, Corinne Maunder has done a beautiful job capturing the images of living positively with dementia, including some touching interviews with people living with the disease.

Below I share with you three emails regarding the film. The first was from Marc Wortmann, Executive Director of Alzheimer's Disease International, who shared the link to the film with his mailing list. The second is from Kate Somers, Curator, The Bernstein Gallery, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. And the third is a personal note to me from Sandy Halperin, A "Cognitive Impairment" Advocate, living with early-stage Alzheimer's. Sandy gave me permission to share his powerful words with you.

I hope you have had a chance to see this 16-minute film and I ask you to share Corinne's work with others, via email, on Facebook, Twitter, or your blogs, because it deserves to be seen! The link is http://youtu.be/bUT3qQFWDvw. Please drop me a line to let me know your thoughts on the film (Cathy@lovelossandlaughter.com) or leave a comment below.

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Dear Friends:

Today is World Alzheimer's Day and I am delighted to let you know that a short film on dementia was released in Australia earlier today. It is produced by Corinne Maunder and reached the finals of a film festival. More information can be found on the website of Alzheimer's Australia, where you can also watch the 16-minute film. I recommend it highly as it connects personal stories with the bigger problem of Alzheimer's and dementia.

You will also see the photos of Cathy Greenblat used, many of you know her book Love, Loss and Laughter and/or have seen the exhibition. It is now making a tour through Australia this year. The photos were used for the first three World Alzheimer Reports.

You can find the link here:

http://www.fightdementia.org.au/film-festival-finalist-captures-the-emotions-of-dementia-.aspx

Have a great day!

Best wishes,
Marc

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Dear Cathy:

Thanks so much for reaching out with this update. I just watched the film. I found myself weeping. But it's not because the film is depressing. It is educating through the heart. It doesn't get more powerful than that.

Good luck with getting the world to watch this important film.

Warm regards,

Kate

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I would like to congratulate Cathy Greenblat for her extraordinary contributions to and for her being being featured in the production of "Love, Laugh and Laughter: Living with Dementia" - produced by Fire Films.

The entirety of this most highly compelling documentary speaks to the importance of not only raising awareness to the number of individuals worldwide who are diagnosed and suffering with dementia, along with their family, friends and loved ones - but highlights the importance of treating and caring for each person who has any level of dementia as a total full-living person - without any stigma attached to it. When you come right down to it, a person with dementia should not be treated any differently than a person without dementia, and Cathy makes that a shining point of that throughout the film.

The film clearly demonstrates that persons that are diagnosed with a cognitive impairment does not mean, in any way whatsoever, that that individual cannot still lead and live a highly productive and active life throughout any stage of the disease that they are in - and Cathy speaks to this issue with true passion and commitment to see that this happens.

Cathy strikes a heartfelt core as she clearly demonstrates how cultures from around the world positively and compassionately treat individuals that are living with dementia. This short film is highly compelling from start to finish and should be on the top of the list for all dementia caregivers and health providers to watch - and to put into tangible action the many issues that she speaks to.

Congratulations Cathy on the work that you have done and continue to do to enhance the lives of those that are living with some form of cognitive impairment or dementia. Cathy, you are a gem of the earth, and folks from around the world will treasure this piece for years to come and this production will serve as a lifelong cornerstone for the world to learn more about the best ways to provide a more complete life to those that unfortunately are stricken with dementia.

Cathy, simply stated, the film is A+++. It's a documentary that you can watch over and over again, and then you will want to share it with as many other individuals that you can. The production is a true gift to the world.

Alexander "Sandy" Halperin, DDS

Alzheimer's (Cognitive Impairment) Advocate and Living with Early-Stage Alzheimer's

Love, Loss, and Laughter -- THE FILM -- Launched on World Alzheimer's Day

In my blog post about my travels in Australia, I talked about an inquiry from filmmaker, Corinne Maunder. She had learned of the exhibit and the launch and requested a chance to make the exhibit and its message the subject of a short film in honor of her grandmother. Corinne did a long interview with me on site, then filmed at the launch on June 6^th, and then followed up on introductions to the Australians in the new photos by interviewing several of them.  A month later, we received a fantastic film from her, which I have been itching to share with you all, but which was being released on September 21^st -- World Alzheimer’s Day --  by Alzheimer’s Disease International and Alzheimer’s Australia. Well, that day is finally here and I can share it with you now! Here's the video; below the video is some background information about the film from Australia's Fight Dementia website.  I welcome your feedback; please leave comments below!






A filmmaker's devotion to her grandmother, who has been living with dementia for 15 years, has been the inspiration behind a film that shares the story of the international photographic exhibition, Love, Loss and Laughter: Seeing Dementia Differently.

Corinne Maunder, Producer, Fire Films Australia, said the Love, Loss and Laughter exhibition presented an ideal opportunity to create a meaningful piece about dementia.

As an entry in the inaugural Reel Health International Health Short Film Festival, the film explores the messages behind the photos that are currently on a six month tour in Australia.

"While making the film I learnt that even though dementia is a condition that people live with, it doesn't mean a person should be isolated from the everyday activities that they can still enjoy in so many ways.
"The project made me appreciate even more, the time that I have with my grandmother and my mother and aunt's unswerving dedication as carers," Ms Maunder said.

American sociologist and social photographer, Cathy Greenblat took the photographs in the United States, France, India, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Monaco and more recently, in Australia. The exhibition has already touched the hearts of thousands of people as it has travelled throughout the America, Asia and Europe. A book of the same title was published in 2012 by Globe Pequot Press, USA.
"I am thrilled with the film. Corinne has captured the essence of what I am trying to convey through the exhibit and the book - fostering awareness and reducing the stigma." Ms Greenblat said. 

"This film will help to share the message globally that people with dementia remain, first and foremost, human beings and should not be defined by their condition," said Ita Buttrose, Alzheimer's Australia National President and 2013 Australian of the Year.

Almost 100 photographs of people living with dementia are included in the exhibition. The images offer a unique, compassionate and positive portrayal of people living with dementia.

"The person that is your mother, your wife, your brother or somebody, is still there. They just may not be able to show us that in the same way," Ms Greenblat explained. "They may not later remember the details of an activity but through their mood and behaviour we can often observe that they are aware that they have had a joyous experience. I like to teach this through my photos."

"The photographs illustrate that people with dementia continue to have needs around social interaction and engagement in much the same way as everybody else," Ms Greenblat said.

The film will be screened at the Reel Health International Health Short Film Festival, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square Melbourne, Australia on 14 October 2013.

For more information about the current exhibition in Australia visit exhibition.fightdementia.org.au

To find out more about the photographs and book of Love, Loss and Laughter: Seeing Dementia Differently visit www.lovelossandlaughter.com

For media enquiries in Australia please contact Christine Bolt +61400004553, christine.bolt@alzheimers.org.au

For direct enquiries to Corinne Maunder, Producer, Fire Films, corinne@firefilms.com.au

For enquiries direct to Cathy Greenblat in Los Angeles, USA, cathy@LoveLossAndLaughter.com, Skype: cathygreenblat

Australia, with Love and Laughter

Ita Buttrose, journalist, businesswoman, and President of Alzheimer’s Australia, was named Australian of the Year for 2013. Ita reads the New York Times online every day.  Last year she found a slideshow titled The Person, Not the Alzheimer’s  (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/04/23/health/23well-alzheimers-ss.html ).

The piece was created by the NY Times writer Anahad O’Connor who visited my Love, Loss, and Laughter exhibition at Pace University’s Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, hosted in conjunction with publication of my book of the same title.

“We need to bring this exhibit to Australia,” Ita told the Alzheimer’s Australia staff. Wheels turned and a larger plan, placing the exhibit as the centerpiece of their 2013 awareness program, was developed. Clare Thackway was hired as a curator to work with Kayla Morgan and Krystal Craig.  With association members around the country, the team set up a seven-month traveling exhibit, through seven states (see www.exhibition.fightdementia.org.au for details). 

I was asked to come to Melbourne and Sydney in advance of the first presentation to photograph and supplement the already large full set of 84 photos with Australian images. I accepted with delight and spent three weeks there in the latter half of March 2013, photographing, interviewing, and working with Clare to select 22 new photos. These were printed and matted on time to be included with the original set in May in Hobart, Tasmania, where the large exhibit was hosted in a large library in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Australia’s annual conference. 

Originally I thought I would be going back to Australia for the opening of the tour in Hobart. When Ita Buttrose agreed to do the launch in Melbourne, the second stop of the tour, we agreed that I would attend that opening instead.  The venue there was extraordinary; rental of a large well-lit gallery in the center of Federation Square had been arranged, and the sponsoring organizations -- Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition and Lilly -- provided wonderful refreshments for the 150 attendees.  Among them were several national and state leaders of Alzheimer’s Australia, researchers, professional and personal care partners, Melbourne civic leaders, a large team of volunteers who would be serving at the site in the coming weeks, and people living with dementia including many of the people who were in the new photographs from my March trip. The photos in this blog post are from that event.

Most exciting of the press contacts was an unofficial request made to Christine Bolt, General Manager, Communications, Alzheimer’s Australia VIC, from a filmmaker, Corinne Maunder. She had learned of the exhibit and the launch and requested a chance to make the exhibit and its message the subject of a short film in honor of her grandmother. Corinne did a long interview with me on site, then filmed at the launch on June 6^th, and then followed up on introductions to the Australians in the new photos by interviewing several of them.  A month later, we received a fantastic film from her, which will be released on September 21^st -- World Alzheimer’s Day --  by Alzheimer’s Disease International and Alzheimer’s Australia. and I LOVE IT and will share it with all of you early that morning. Christine and her associate, Sam Watson, arranged lots of other media coverage.

During the two trips to Australia I also gave several talks, variants of an evolving presentation titled “Arts, Hearts, and Minds: Music Art, and Photography in Dementia Care.”  Initially I spoke at NARI (the National Aging Research Institute), thanks to David Ames and Nicola Lautenschlager.  On the second trip, Kirsten James asked me to repeat that presentation to the Victoria Dementia Network. Trip 2 also gave me the chance to speak at the NSW/ACT Dementia Training Study Centre headed by Richard Fleming, in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health at the University of Wollongong.  At the conclusion of that presentation, Richard and the Dean of the School, Angela Brown, offered me an invitation to return, which I expect to do in March 2014. In addition to giving some more talks, Trip 3 will give me a chance to photograph more intensely at the wonderful Starrett Lodge residential community that I visited, where Colin McDonnell has created an extraordinarily joyous and effective environment for people with dementia.

Several of the new photographs appear in the cover article, “Memories of the Heart,” of the July-August issue of the Australian Journal of Dementia Care. You can click here to view the article.

During the two trips I dined with Henry and Karoline Brodaty, David Ames and Eleanor Flynn, Nicola Lautenschlager, Daniella Greenwood, Heather Hill, Hannah  Baral, Maree Farrow, Andrew Mills, Glenn Rees, photographer Lynton Crabb and his sister Vicki, in addition to the people already mentioned. Apologies to any I forgot to list….

Overall, I can’t say enough about the warmth and hospitality I experienced. I was also greatly impressed with the work being done on all fronts by individual researchers and caregivers and people with memory challenges, but also by the two chapters of Alzheimer’s Australia that I visited — New South Wales and Victoria.  The Australians are clearly in the forefront of providing resources, services, and quality programming in all domains. It was a wonderful experience, and I am grateful to all who made it possible.