The current museum projects for Alzheimer’s sufferers are a brilliant way to both entertain and encourage communication. Conversation can be more problematic with AD people as they tend to lose track of the links and the subject. But if they have a stimulus in front of them, if there is a picture to look at, they can constantly refer to it. They don’t have to depend on their mind to hold them in one place. The visual stimulus is there to do it for them. In Chapter 3 of “When Words Have Lost Their Meaning: Alzheimer’s Patients Communicate Through Art,” Greenwood Press 2005, I suggest ideas for art activities with dementia patients. Some people have very little feel for color or lines and are too passive or restless to take paint to paper. A good option is to find reproductions of paintings that one can look at and talk about. Chagall’s wedding pictures, so whimsical, but so full of love, often result in dialogue about long marriages, loyalty, past and present happiness and love. On the other hand, try showing some pictures of lonely fingers in diners, by Edward Hopper. These give patients the opportunity to talk about their loneliness, share their longing for connection and companionship. Patients need not only to be cheered up, but should have their sadness and concerns voiced and listened to with compassion. The trick of course, is to choose the right picture for the particular person, matching it to his/her personality or current mood.
Ruth Abraham
