Statement
In 2020, 50 million people are living with dementia globally. In the United States, one in three seniors suffer with Alzheimer’s or dementia at the time of their death. The US government, through Medicare and Medicaid, will spend approximately $305 billion annually to care for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. There is an additional $250 billion shouldered by family members and unpaid caregivers. Six million people in the US have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. It’s estimated that only 1 in 4 people with the disease are diagnosed which means it’s possible that 24 million people in the US are living with dementia.

And yet despite the millions of individuals and families affected, dementia is often a taboo subject with limited public awareness or discourse. A diagnosis can become a mechanism for segregating those affected from society, making it easy to see only the label instead of the individual.

The typical narrative about dementia tends to focus on the clinical diagnosis or medical status of an individual, and is all too often depicted using fear, despair and vulnerability. This narrow and incomplete view of dementia quickly becomes a powerful means to distance oneself from their humanity. By focusing only on the narrowest of views, that narrative does little to change the stigma of those living with the disease. In many ways, showing the stereotypical perspectives only makes it easier to continue ignoring the burgeoning health crisis and the individuals themselves.

The goal of this [body of work] is to de-stigmatize those living with dementia. To use empathy as a means for connection and understanding. To tell a more complex and complete story of those living with the disease and its affect on their families and loved ones.

To give the audience courage to act in ways large and small, you must  show the whole story – the fear, loss and despair, but also the love, connection, dignity, and powerful humanity that always remain – in the subjects, in the care-partners, and in the families and communities. That is the only path to evolve the narrative and have a positive social change.

Bio
Trained as a journalist, Joe Wallace has been a portrait photographer and storyteller for twenty years. Like many, Joe has a deeply personal connection with dementia. His maternal grandfather and hero, Joe Jenkins, had Alzheimer’s. His maternal grandmother Elizabeth Ponder (Bebe) had vascular dementia. And in recent years, his mother Barbara has begun her journey with the disease.

Joe was frustrated by the common, one-dimensional narrative of dementia – futility, despair, and loss. These are real and important elements of the dementia journey, but by focusing only on the narrowest of views, do very little to change the stigma of those living with the disease. In many ways, showing the stereotypical perspectives only makes it easier to continue ignoring the burgeoning health crisis and the individuals themselves.

Joe feels strongly that to give the audience courage to act in ways large and small, you must to show the whole story. The artist must not be afraid to show not only the fear, loss and despair, but also the love, connection, dignity, and powerful humanity that always remain – in the subjects, in the care-partners, and in the families and communities. That is the only path to evolve the narrative and have a positive social change.

Visit Joe Wallace’s website.