A collaboration between two artists to create a live art installation to raise awareness about dementia has been launched.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Theatre artist Samantha Bews said the idea for the installation was to look at the perceptions society has on people with dementia.
“It’s not what it’s like to live with dementia, but to raise awareness about how we perceive people living with dementia,” Ms Bews said.
Ms Bews said inspiration for Breaking Bread: A Dementia Awareness Cafe came from the work of Scottish theologian John Swinton.
“In his work he looks at the way we view people with dementia and his objective is to change our thinking about what a person is and how we think about people with dementia,” Ms Bews said.
RELATED: Focus on dementia and energy
The installation features a maze which guides the audience through a series of interactive questions and activities which highlights aspects of how people with dementia are perceived.
Sculptor Eliza-Jane Gilchrist created the maze using recycled cardboard.
“Samantha and I talked about what the inside of a brain looks like and we tried to visualise it,” Ms Gilchrist said.
Ms Gilchrist said elements of the maze replicated the lived experience of people living with dementia.
“We all live with loss in some way, so to come to a thinking that we can manage loss we just have to re-frame our thinking.”
At the centre of the maze is a book titled Book of Loss and Nourishment which contains extracts from interviews which Ms Bews conducted with people living with dementia and their loved ones.
Breaking Bread: A Dementia Awareness Cafe will be at The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery from September 5-7 and is open from 10am-5pm each day.
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.
