Turning by Aynsley

Eight years ago my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Since then I have struggled to understand what such a diagnosis might mean for both he and his loved ones. My work has been dedicated to creating a framework that might begin to provide some insight. In 2010 my sound piece Sounds of Forgetting represented the culmination of my thoughts. Greatly inspired by the writing of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the artwork of Janet Cardiff, the piece was a phenomenological exploration of my father’s mind. It represented a shift from the cognitive to the corporeal – and it reveled in this shift. It was a celebration of a different and more embodied way of experiencing the world without reference to the past or future. It was, for me, a great comfort.

Recently my father experienced a drastic change following an infection and lengthy hospital stay. Both as an artist and, now, as a social-worker in training, I am being forced to adjust the interpretation of his life that Sounds of Forgetting sought to represent. He has experienced major physical trauma, and where I once viewed his body’s relationship with the world as a sacred and reciprocal negotiation, I now see interruptions and manipulations. The recent extensions of his body in the forms of plastic tubes and rubber bags have disrupted the beautiful relationship I once saw between his body and the world around him. Where I once saw harmony I now see a site of invasion.

Through this piece I hope to achieve a synthesis between my past framework and a newly-provoked understanding of my father’s life.