Weekly Experiment – Photo Collage/Sketch

I’ve been using Lightroom and Procreate to create “photo doodles” for my 50 Days of Making project, and for this week’s thesis assignment, I followed my 50 Days process and created a collage of pictures I took of my grandma and family in May of 2020. Since I’ve been thinking about tackling the subject of my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s for my thesis project, I used these photos and Procreate to experiment with the idea of my grandma’s memory loss, represented by the cut-out shapes of my family members. I also drew over my grandma’s bracelet (which signifies that she has Alzheimer’s) in order to highlight this piece of her.

Visual Representation – Cornell Box

For my Cornell Box, I created a rough replica of my grandmother’s house. I’ve been thinking about a way to represent my grandma’s life before and after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and I’ve had the thought of utilizing 3D and VR to do that. Though the idea is not fully fleshed out, this assignment helped me get started by playing with the concept of space – in this case, a home in which each room represents a piece of my grandma’s life. And darker rooms represent memories that have already faded.

People

I’m sort of having trouble finding specific people whose work I’d be interested in looking at for my thesis. For this particular assignment, I tried not to focus too much on Alzheimer’s research and researchers, because I figured there would be plenty of resources for that. So instead, I tried to find people who are working at the intersection of Alzheimer’s and art – i.e., artists/makers who create pieces that, in one way or another, represent or touch upon the subject of Alzheimer’s. But my search did not really yield the kinds of results I was looking for. So I had to change my strategy.

Instead, I began looking up the kinds of 3D and immersive experiences I’ve imagined my thesis project looking like (if I continue to move in this direction). An example of such an experience would be the video game “What Remains of Edith Finch,” developed by Giant Sparrow, an indie video game company.

Though I haven’t fully played Edith Finch, I have heard about the story and have seen snippets of gameplay. And I’m intrigued with how Giant Sparrow created this narrative that users could immerse themselves in through exploration and play.

Looking up Edith Finch also led me to the game “Gone Home,” another first-person exploration game/walking simulator developed by a different indie video game company called Fullbright.

Both companies have partnered Annapurna Interactive to publish their games, so I would be interested in looking into this company as well. It’s a division of Annapurna Pictures, so I know they’re big on story-telling – an aspect that I definitely want to incorporate in my thesis project.

Other things I found in my research:

  • Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA)’s “Dementia Experience” – a VR experience that offers a way to momentarily step into the shoes of someone living with Alzheimer’s disease
  • “Tinker VR” – a live bespoke theater experience about Alzheimer’s disease, by Tinker Studio
  • “A Walk Through Dementia” – an app designed to put you in the shoes of someone living with dementia

Though I didn’t find specific people to add to this list, these are the kinds of things I’m interested in looking at, and I admire all the people behind these kinds of projects.