Review: Remember Me?

As we age, we can experience memory lapses and forget things from time to time. However, this is different to the persistent and progressive memory loss associated with dementia¹. Memory loss in dementia manifests in progressively forgetting events, names of things, being unable to follow directions or perform typical daily tasks¹. Family members and staff are increasingly challenged with how to meaningfully engage with a person with this level of memory loss². Individual, personalised or one to one interactions seem to have more positive results³. Tony Luciano certainly seemed to have achieved this when he engaged with his mother through photography – and he created priceless memories for himself in the process! 

Click HERE to see his inspiring TED talk, or watch it below.

A mother and son's photographic journey through dementia. Read our review below.

Artist Tony Luciani was testing out a new camera when his 93-year-old mother, Elia, snuck into the background of his photos. The spontaneous images that resulted sparked a years-long collaboration, with Luciani documenting his mum's life and spirit as she lived with dementia. In this touching talk, he shares the stories behind some of their favourite shots, capturing the joy and grief of caring for an ageing parent.

See his work here.

1.       https://www.dementia.org.au/about-dementia/memory-loss/memory-changes

2.     Cohen-Mansfield, J., Dakheel-Ali, M., & Marx, M. S. (2009). Engagement in persons with dementia: the concept and its measurement. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 17(4), 299-307.

3.       Tak, S. H., Kedia, S., Tongumpun, T. M., & Hong, S. H. (2015). Activity engagement: Perspectives from nursing home residents with dementia. Educational gerontology, 41(3), 182-192.

4.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSfMx6Mr1eE