My Master's thesis Louise Snowball, Room #237, is an interactive, multi-sensory installation that draws upon my personal experiences of observing my mother’s decline from dementia. In 2012, my mother, Louise Snowball, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and subsequently admitted to a long-term care facility until her death on February 4th, 2017. During my visits to her long-term care facility, I documented my mother through photography and videography as a way to process the emotional and psychological trauma involved in observing her decline. While spending time with her, I started to contemplate how her diagnosis and institutional environment might have negatively impacted her personhood or sense of identity. My feelings were amplified by the knowledge that she was fearful and resistant to being admitted into a “home”. Through my own experiences, I became critical of these types of medical spaces because I felt that my mother was being positioned as an object of her disease, rather than as an autonomous subject with will, integrity, and knowledge. Reflecting upon my photographic, two-dimensional practice, I began to explore how a three-dimensional practice such as installation, could build upon this image-based work by activating the viewer in a more complex and interactive way. With this in mind, I began to shift my work away from a purely photographic practice toward the creation of interactive spaces. By using research creation (installation, photography, video, and sound) and auto-ethnography (journaling, drawing, reflexivity) methodologies, I have created an adaptation of my mother’s room in her long-term care facility where viewers can discover narrative "clues”. I evoke my mother’s presence within the installation through the inclusion of personal video and audio clips, texts and projections that the viewer can discover through their interaction with objects.
On April 11th, 2019, I hosted my thesis exhibition opening along with my sponsors, Scott Russell, CEO of Alzheimer’s Society of Toronto and Sue Graham-Nutter, CEO of the Rekai Centres. The event took place at 100 McCaul, in the “Great Hall” space on the 2nd floor, where I had constructed a large installation room. During the exhibition, a panel had been arranged to discuss issues surrounding dementia and the state of long-term care. On this panel were Dr. Kathy McGilton, senior scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Mary Connell, registered nurse and The Butterfly Project manager at Peel’s Malton Village, myself, and Sue Graham-Nutter. Collectively, we spoke about our concerns for people with dementia residing within long-term care facilities and addressed the ways in which space, people, and relationships can come together to create compassionate, person-centered care.
