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Paddy Leonard, 4 Nov
Local charity Dementia NI is hosting a unique exhibition at Roe Valley
Arts and Cultural Centre, Limavady.
The exhibition which opens today (Saturday, 4th November) runs until
Saturday, 25th November, exploring what it is really like living with
dementia in Northern Ireland and challenging widespread stigma about
the condition.
Open Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 5pm, Saturdays 9:30am to 1pm, with
late night opening on Wednesday and Thursday 5pm to 7pm, Real Lives:
The Art of Living With Dementia will showcase captivating photography,
striking patchwork quilts and moving poetry. The exhibition features 45
pieces created by Dementia NI members, all of whom live with a
diagnosis of dementia.
There are over 20,000 people living with dementia across Northern
Ireland and this number is projected to rise to 60,000 by 2050*, due in
part to our ageing population. Years of stigma and misunderstanding
have led to common misconceptions about what it means to live with
dementia. In fact, dementia has been reported as the condition people
fear the most, with over half (56%) of people putting off seeking a
diagnosis for up to a year or more**.
Dementia NI’s exhibition sets out to challenge these misconceptions,
transforming how people view the condition and starting conversations
through the medium of art. It shares a message of hope that many people
with dementia are still able to enjoy life in the same way as before
their diagnosis and live well with dementia.
The exhibition features patchwork quilts created during an online
project organised by Dementia NI and the Arts Council of Northern
Ireland, to help local people with dementia stay active during
lockdown. Working with Arts Council art tutors, Dementia NI members
were encouraged to make their own heirloom quilts which tell the story
of their lives.
It includes a quilt by Dementia NI member Yvonne Thompson, who lives in
Newtownabbey. Yvonne’s vibrant quilt draws on her working days as a
District Nursing Sister and depicts happy times with her family at
their caravan in Castlerock.
“I really enjoyed working on this arts project,” says Yvonne. “My quilt
shows the family caravan in Castlerock which has an important place in
my heart. My family love to spend time there and it's where I holidayed
with my parents as a child. I would love people to come away from this
exhibition feeling that people with dementia can keep achieving things
and learning new skills. I hope it encourages people to start
conversations about dementia and ask questions about the condition. As
this exhibition shows, being diagnosed does not mean your life is over,
you can live well with dementia and continue to reach your full
potential.”
The free exhibition also features photographs taken by Dementia NI
members, including Davie McElhinney from Enniskillen, with support from
Arts Care. Through poignant photographs, Davie tells his story of the
emotions he experienced after diagnosis and the journey he went on from
shock and despair to acceptance and hope.
“After a diagnosis of dementia, it is still possible to learn new
skills, experience new things, and achieve something worthwhile,” says
Davie. “It is my hope that the stigma of dementia continues to be
challenged and we can have an open dialogue around how to challenge
assumptions about dementia when they appear. The biggest misconception
about dementia is that it’s an elderly person’s illness but that’s not
the case.
"Many of us [Dementia NI members] are early onset and are living well
with medication and support from Dementia NI. It’s trying to break that
misconception; most people only know the media image.”
[Photos_by_Dementia_NI_Member_Davie_McElhinney-1698932965860.jpg]
Dementia NI Member and Trustee Davie McElhinney took photos telling the
story of his journey with dementia.
Emma Green, Empowerment Facilitator for the Western area at Dementia
NI, added, “Real Lives: The Art of Living with Dementia Exhibition
takes you on a journey. As you walk around the pieces, you are getting
an inside glimpse of the thoughts and feelings of Dementia NI’s
members, as they come to acknowledge and understand their diagnosis of
dementia, through art. You get to see the creative ways in how they
tell their stories, of times of despair and of hope, of challenges and
of overcoming, with visually stunning photos and hand made quilts and
with poems expressing their hearts.
“This type of exhibition, coming from people living well with dementia,
speaks of how much they want to break the stigma and make positive
changes for others coming behind them with the same condition, while
giving voice to a message that they still have more to give even after
a diagnosis of dementia”.
Dementia NI’s Empowerment Groups meet regularly across Northern
Ireland. They are free of charge and anyone who has received a
diagnosis and is in the early to middle stages of dementia may like to
attend. For more info call 028 9693 1555 or email info@dementiani.org
If you would like more information on the exhibition or to speak to one
of our members, please email jane@dementiani.org or call 07966 881 422.
* Statistic provided by Age UK
** Statistic provided by the Alzheimer’s Society