Take a look at the work of Matthew Dehaemer, a Kansas City sculptor and public artist who has done fascinating work with numerous communities, including Alzheimer's patients and caregivers. During his 2007 residency at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, he helped caregivers record the journeys of their family members affected by the disease, creating multimedia installations containing reliquaries and video testaments. They also crafted a labyrinth based on a PET scan of an Alzheimer patient's brain, combined with the marble floor labyrinth in Chartres cathedral. It's inscribed with various texts from the project, written backwards as you walk to the center of the labyrinth, then coming into clarity as you walk back out. This project is still being featured in Memory Walks and other events sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association of Delaware. It's worth a visit on Dehaemers' Web site, as is the award-winning installation he did in 2006 commemorating the 87th anniversary of the 1919 Omaha Race Riot resulting in the hanging, shooting, dragging and burning of William Brown. (Thanks to the DCCA for sending us their lovely "Art & Community 2006-2007" catalogue, including the community work of Dehaemers, Claire Sherwood, Yukie Kobayashi and Aria Anasazi.)

Matthew Dehaemers

   

Comments

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: