Feed our Mind, Body & Soul

Art comes in different mediums. Handmade bead embroidered necklace (left) and it' design illustrated with coloured pencils (right)

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that affects a person’s memory and cognitive skills. More than thirty-five million people, and rising, suffer from this disease worldwide. As the stages of the disease advances in a person’s brain, they will ultimately need taking care of. The ability to communicate, remember, and even body functions travel a path of gradual loss, until the path ends and they can lose no more.  

Sculpture by artist Steph Lopez. Displayed at Pinto Gallery Antipolo, Rizal

Handmade Wire-Art Jewelry by Steph Lopez of Flow

The best centers established for research and treatment of Alzheimer’s can be found in the United States and Western Europe. These places are now employing the use of creativity and the arts as a means to combat the disease. Studies have shown that upon the onset of Alzheimer’s, parts of the brain responsible for making new memories are the first thing affected.  The Parietal lobe, responsible for our skills in the creative arts such as painting, music, and literature, is the last to go. In almost any form or medium, the act of expressing creativity through art stimulates the Parietal Lobe.

Rated PG Art Exhibit featuring her paintings.

Rated PG clutch bag (left) with handmade accessory by Palamuti (right)

According to art experts, when patients suffering from Alzheimer’s are shown a work of art, somehow that medium says something to them. It communicates to them through non-verbal ways. It’s as though they are speaking a language of the mind, something to do with the intricacies of scale, color, and vibrancy. Somehow, they begin to have a dialogue with that particular work of art. Alzheimer’s varies on a case-to-case basis, but the creative arts bypasses limitations brought about by disease and seems to directly affect our imaginations.  People still have imaginations intact all the way to the very, very end of Alzheimer’s.

The different forms of creative art converge through imagination and creativity. Background artwork by Nikki Valenzuela (Instagram: @nikki_ocean)

Makeup by Nikki Valenzuela (Instagram: @nikki_ocean). Hairpiece handmade by Steph Lopez of Flow

Photography is a craft perfected through knowledge, skill, and experience.  Photography session with Carlo Cayabyab

Film photography by Steve Calma (Instagram @sleepsurfer).  Fashion Styling by Palamuti

As a practitioner of art in the form of handmade accessory making, my insight on the matter is, people with Alzheimer’s are at the extremes of a consequence of life decisions. There is no known cause for the disease.  But beyond medical research and studies, there is a disease that BEGINS when we come to accept that performing dull, repetitive, and monotonous tasks are the forefront of our lives. It is akin to a student valuing advancement more than the joy learning.  Maybe it’s the price that needs to be paid for forsaking things we truly value, what make us unique, what makes us who we are. So never stop dreaming and never stop being creative. The arts are a balm that soothes and heals our souls in a world where many are destined to be broken.  

Keeping it real. - PJV