ART OF DEMENTIA
This is a gallery of images created by people living with dementia. It includes work from the Drawing Memories research project, and the artwork produced for the Tiles of Life national project that was presented at the Alzheimer’s Australia 15th National Conference: The Tiles of Life: Colouring the Future, 14-17 May 2013, Hobart, Tasmania.
The artworks have used both traditional drawing materials as well as digital technology. The activities focussed on experimentation with drawing media, rather than the aesthetic outcome - creative expression without judgement. The greatest challenge was reassuring these artists that their final work doesn't need to have an obvious meaning, as long as the drawing process is meaningful.
The beauty in these images is not necessarily seen as a "recognisable subject", but more the textures patterns and colours that were spontaneously chosen by people with cognitively and physically challenged limitations.
I made meaning from that and wrote a paper on art and dementia.