Me?

My project is about Alzheimer’s disease, which is a brain disfunction that affects a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. I took a series of photographs inspired by the 7 degenerative stages of Alzheimer’s. In the photos, my subject was doing different activities such as reading a book, sitting on a block, and lying down on the grass while looking at the sky. The focus of the photographs was on one of the most drastic results of Alzheimer’s disease, which is personality change. For each photo, the person’s facial expressions and body language changed from calm, content, and happy to eventually being confused, sad, and frustrated. As the photos progressed, the subject’s gained and then lost several items such as her book, her scruchie for her hair, her jacket, and her shoes. In addition, in the photographs, the subject started outside in the grass and bushes and ended in an enclosed wall. All of these changes represent that as the person’s personality change progresses, they start in a personal world that is familiar and recognizable, and then they’re eventually trapped in an impersonal world that they do not recognize or of which they are even cognizant. The edits made in the photos included black and white filters, and I changed the lighting and contrast of the photos to further symbolize the progression of the subtle and drastic changes in the subject’s personality.