What could it mean no have memory of our lives? Not recognize a familiar faces that we have seen change over the years? We do not ever know. This is one of the most symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The progressive loss of memory is the first alarm bell.
In this series of images Rosa and Luigi affected by Alzheimer’s disease at an advanced stage, through a non-pharmacological therapy are encouraged to memory and attention, exploration, manipulation and interaction with a multisensory room.
Immersed in a space surrounded by light and colors, sounds and smells, Rosa and Luigi with the help of a specialist, try to break down that wall of silence between them and the outside world.
Rosa observes the tube of light, feel the heat on his fingers, as a prayer a beads. Maybe a gesture repeated how many times in the past. We’ll never know.
As we will never know who is it the woman in the picture projected on the wall. Maybe she is a Luigi’s mother, but your memory is locked himself in his heart and his brain, who that are not set in motion to bring it back to light.
At the moment, there are still not medicine or psychosocial interventions that heal or block Alzheimer’s disease, but much is being done to improve the quality of life of sick patients and families implicated.
It ‘s necessary to fight , because as Isabelle Allende wrote, “There is no definitive separation until there memory.”
Italian photojournalist Michela Taeggi was born in 1976 in Italy. She’s member of BuenaVista photo, a network of a group of Italian photographers and photojournalists. She’s specializes in documentary and portrait photography with a many interest on social issue with a particular emphasis on human rights. She work as freelance on a range of commissions and personal projects. Her pictures have been published in many italian magazines.
Weekend portfolio selected by Agathe Gaillard.
