Experience of Illness – Painting a journey with Alzheimer’s.
One of my most recent painting projects was a group painting for my university module ‘experience of illness’. We were inspired by the book ‘Who will I be when I die?’ by Christine Bryden, which is a narrative of her experience of being diagnosed and living with Alzheimer’s disease.
Through this project I learned a lot about Alzheimer’s and dementia, and about how people can be healed, in part, through the telling of their illness narrative. It was also a wonderful opportunity to work as a team, and I know that had we each worked separately none of us could have created something like this which we are so proud of. I was responsible for the planning of the painting, which we had to record in the correct order for it to follow a narrative when played in reverse – this was a challenge and felt like a big responsibility, but because I was so passionate about the topic and the painting I worked hard to ensure that it was right.
Lydia Atkinson Art 