Full of Me
Reminiscence Arts in Dementia Care by Gabriel Galvez-Prado and Anna Cady
This short film captures a conversation with Pilar and Emily, a couple who reminisce about their life before meeting each other, their relatives and the impact of Pilar’s Alzheimer's diagnosis on their life today. Pilar speaks eloquently and has great long-term memory. As she says herself, it’s just her short term memory she struggles with.
The humour, warmth, love and affection between them is fabulous to watch and listen to. It was a real privilege to spend time with them. I feel I have learnt so much from them both.
My inspiration was the relationship between Pilar and her uncle, Moyo. She told me that her uncle was a very important person to her, since she had grown up without her dad in her life. Pilar told me that Moyo had taught her to respect and love life. I was also particularly keen to see the honest way Pilar and Emily talked about their relationship as a lesbian couple and how they helped others to come out. I found it strange to hear older people talk with such integrity and I was so moved by this!
Working with them and making the film has informed my own practice as a dancer and dance therapist. I’m interested in the tension between knowing and not knowing. My dancing and my improvisation are about unfinished histories of ourselves and others... This is me. The experience of making this artwork gave me the opportunity to think about my own life and inspired me to create an autobiographical dance performance about my family experience. It also prompted me to return to Mexico and visit my great-great grandmother's house, in order to take photos and reminisce about my childhood. The fact that I took part in the Remembering Together project has helped me to realise the importance of family and to honour my relatives, both living and deceased.
Pilar said they thoroughly enjoyed the sessions, but on the first day, they wanted to leave as they were worried that they would be patronised. Luckily they relaxed once they realised that wasn’t going to happen and in their words “Everyone was so nice. By the end, we knew they were genuine and we loved it! We loved it! We loved the games, we liked everyone and we wanted to make friends with everyone."
Emily was equally positive. "We liked it and we wanted it to go on all the time! We loved learning about a person's life so quickly, we wanted it to go on and on."
They both enjoyed making the film and talking about their lives and sexuality.