My creative piece depicts an elderly lady suffering from dementia. I named the painting Isolation. It represents times when I have seen poor patient-care with regard to elderly people with dementia, which resulted in depression, anger or confusion for that person. I wanted to express the consequences of these continuous negative impacts on their lives and illustrate that it causes a downward spiral that can worsen the prognosis of the dementia.

The painting is intended to highlight that people suffering from this disease can often feel alone with their biographical disruption. The work is in black and white to signify that the person with dementia may not be able to do all of the tasks and activities that they once could – or that they are not being given the opportunity to try. It signifies what people may think of those suffering from dementia i.e. a shell of what they once were, which is neither accurate nor fair. The face has been painted in a way that the hair fades into the blackness – this illustrates the fact that although family and heath care professionals can see, they may not actually see the patient’s needs but instead just the pathology. This attitude amplifies the sense of feeling isolated and gives the idea that if that is the kind of care they receive; their symptoms and health will decline. The darkness also represents the reality of the person suffering with dementia. If family and health care professionals continuously try and correct the confusion characteristic of people with dementia, for example telling them their mother is really dead if they believe she is alive – it can have large negative impacts. Imagine being told on more than one occasion that your mother was dead; it would be almost torturous. The patient will feel scared and have damaging behavioral symptoms. Instead it is important that you join them in their reality, and distract them by getting them involved in activities which will take their mind off why their mother is not present. The sense of feeling afraid and isolated with dementia is also depicted in the facial expression. This image represents what people suffering with dementia can feel if they do not receive person-centered care, and if family and heath care professionals do not build up their resilience to the continual decline of the illness. The face fading into the blackness represents the deterioration of health leading to eventual death – if the needs of the patient are not adequately met.

Painting has been one of the highlights of this academic year for me, and I think I will try and do more art in my free time as it relaxes me and I think it is important to have interests beside academic ones.