This painting was produced a year after my Nan past away from Alzheimers. A disease that captured my Nan and took her hostage in her own body and mind.
This painting symbolises the experience of how I felt being a Granddaughter and being a witness to her slow deterioration of the disease.
The experiences I felt; were how to combat the disease, ease my Nan’s tremendous strengthen and amazing sense of humour. The onset crept up on my Nan, with echoes of depression and a slow recoil into her home and not leaving her own surroundings. At times it seemed my Nan would only say ‘NO’ when offered a day out, a family celebration….no to food….to TV….Music….to walking…..
This painting compares the visual with the real, the latter being a ‘computer memory board’.
How robust technology is and long lasting compared to the human state.
Human memory verses the computer memory……………..
‘Computer Memory is the storage in a computer where data is to be processed and instructions required for processing are stored’.
‘Human Memory is our ability to encode, store, retain and subsequently recall information and past experience in the human brain’.
The Drying Room Blog 
Alzheimer’s is truly the cruelest of diseases. My mother is in year 6 or so, and can no longer talk, walk or even eat on her own. It is soul crushing to see.
It is such a cruel disease, my Nan was exactly the same. She couldn’t do anything for herself. But through it all she still had a wonderful sense of humour and this did surface now and again in her more lucid states. One of the most difficult things I experienced with my Nan was the one way conversations, I missed not being able to have a conversation with her.
Like you said it is soul crushing but stay strong.I remember I used to enjoy filling my Nan’s room with fresh flowers and I know my Nan loved them. Its these little things that made the situation normal and gave structure to my visits. Thank you for your comments.
Yes, I miss our conversations too. You just have to find the beauty in a smile, or other small thing now.
Really like the symbols in the artwork, their relevance, and the warmth it radiates.
Many thanks for your positive comments, because when I’m painting I am so engrossed in the process its quite hard to then distance yourself from the final image and look at what you’ve created.