WEEK 2 (02/03-08/03)- reflection

Aims

.how my week went-- On Monday we did a workshop that encouraged us to broaden the language we use around our subject matter. I did not find the actual group work activity useful as my topic was left till last and so left incomplete. But as I find this method of visualising the thought process effective I continued it on in my own time. With this process i cam to the conclusion that a lot of the language around Alzheimer's is extremely sensitive, afraid to offend or scare the individual it is directed at. There is something almost dehumanising about how careful the language treads, as it almost goes out of its way to make the individual comfortable with the circumstances when they already know that they have a disease they are coming to terms with. They treat an individual with Alzheimer's as incapable, incapable of even facing the situation, which is reductive in its own right. Some of my research into the world Alzheimer's report (2019) shows that individuals with Alzheimers feel a loss of responsibility once they gained the disease. This had a knock on effect with their mental health as they do not feel useful, capable and as a result a burden. The objective shouldn't be to wrap them up safely in bubble wrap, they know the situation and what it entails, but to give them a safe environment to experience it.

.how were certain days-- I found a couple of animations on Wednesday that both used very poignant imagery to express Alzheimers. Memo by the French school, Gobelins, animation had the colour bleeding from an older gentlemen's surroundings so that one object was no longer discernible from another. It was comparable to water colours, when you add too much water that you start to loose the pigment and it bleeds into the surrounding colours until it is all muddled. Also it reiterated something else I learned about Alzheimers, that it is your most recent memories that you lose first, its why its the small things you forget first, placement of things, that grow into larger like not recognising your surroundings. So something like moving house after a diagnosis could be a horrible experience for someone who ha s Alzheimers. As you are dropped into an unfamiliar environment and expected to navigate it.

It gave me an idea for a narrative, that you are with this person navigating a maze like house, at first they do so with confidence, so much so that the viewer buys into the fact that this is their home, that move without looking, just knowing where the kettle is, where to get their toothbrush, chucking their coat so it lands exactly on a hanger. But the house slowly gets more and more maze like and the main character second guesses themselves more and more, turning back on their heel, changing direction, until they are finding car keys in the fridge, take them out, only yo find them in the fridge again seconds later. The tone would get darker and darker until they see a thread peering round a maze corner that glows. they go up to it, examine it, tug on it, until they follow it . The surroundings get less and less maze like until it resembles the house, their house, we saw in the beginning. The thread leads to a post it note that reads "key bowl", where the character now places the keys back.

.two things I learnt-- The importance of group work. It sounds silly as it should be something I actively incorporate frequently at this point but I can get stuck in my own head and ideas. Its good to have people to bounce ideas off and not just yes men. They give their opinion, what direction they'd go in, what they'd change, if they have any history with the subject matter. As a result I have timetabled in a meet up twice a week with friends on the same course and a meeting with my tutor in to my action plan to ensure aI stick to reaching out for inspiration and not just in.

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.two things I enjoyed--

.what could I do differently--

.what should I do next--