Pages From A Blank Mind
Odile Martínez-Santamari
Having my grandfather suffering from dementia for ten years made me reflect on the importance of memories and its conservation. But also, it made me understand that this symptom was not the only one, and that the dementia patient was not the only one affected by it. The ugly truth is that memory loss is one of the milder symptoms of this disease, and part of the harsh reality of this is that the patients are the last ones to find out what is really going on; while people around them are impacted by the symptoms. 44.4 million people in the world go through this every year, becoming a hundred percent dependent of a caregiver. My project seeks to present this disease and and it effects in a more subtle and romantic way, presenting the symptoms of dementia visually through a text that is not made to be read, but rather seen and experienced. The goal is to raise awareness of the real problems of the disease, revealing the ugly truth and how the family and caregivers of a patient are also affected. It focus on helping not only the friends and families of dementia patients, but anyone who is not related to it, to understand each symptoms and how they look and feel. Making those symptoms less uglier, and more understandable. At the end, all we can do is accept it and understand it. Dementia has no cure, so we better find more beautiful ways of looking at it.