Art and Awareness: Ceramics show for World Alzheimer’s Month

September marks World Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and challenging the stigma surrounding Alzheimer's disease and all forms of dementia.

This year, the celebration includes a poignant ceramics exhibition by Tāmaki Makaurau, artist Debbie Barber. Titled, In the calm glowing warmth I remembered, the show will be held at Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi, Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre from September 14.

Barber's exhibition is a deeply personal response to her mother’s journey with dementia.

“I’m really interested in creating opportunities to share our experiences with dementia.”

Barber, who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University, has been developing her art practice since 2019, heavily influenced by her reflections on identity, time, and memory in the context of dementia.

In her work, Barber explores concepts of time, memory, and identity through ceramics. She pairs quotes from her mother’s memory journal with her art to offer a deeper understanding of the dementia experience.

Her installations and purpose-built plinths symbolise the neurological pathways and spaces where memories and stories come together.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, September 14, with an artist's talk from 1-3pm.

Barber's artist statement offers insight into her creative process: “What if the thoroughfare of memory has holes and continually moves around without knowing where to settle? How does this affect one’s identity when the interlaced path of our whakapapa is without context, and the stories we are born into are uncertain traces of our past? How do you move forward into the future with a past that doesn’t remember the way?”

Her practice involves creating functional ceramics and transforming the waste into tiles or fragments, paralleling the traces left by dementia. The use of copper contrasts with the organic nature of clay, symbolising the disconnect experienced when others perceive you more clearly than you perceive yourself. Barber’s work invites reflection on capacity, realisation, and acceptance in the face of dementia.

Barber has exhibited extensively, her most recent Abstraxt Abstraxt at NorthArt 2024 and she was a Molly Morpeth Canaday Award finalist, 2024, and Portage Ceramic Award; Merit Prize winner 2023.

Barber's show in Whakatāne will run for six weeks, until October 26.

Dementia-friendly community

During World Alzheimer’s Month, Alzheimer’s Eastern Bay of Plenty is actively working to promote a more dementia-friendly society.

“We aim to highlight the positive steps being undertaken to develop a more dementia-friendly community,” said Sue Cave, manager of Alzheimer’s Eastern Bay of Plenty.

The organisation will be visible throughout September with a street appeal, participation in the Sunday Market on September 22, and presentations to Chamber of Commerce business members on becoming “dementia-friendly”.

Nationally, there is a one-day event being held on Tuesday, September 24 (details in link) which is free for people who are living with dementia mate wareware or their whānau care partner. https://alzheimers.org.nz/explore/events

Alzheimers EBOP has supported 230 people with dementia mate wareware, their carers and whānau over the past 12 months. A trained dementia navigator supports the person with dementia, their care partners, and whānau throughout their entire journey. They help to develop a personalised support plan which includes dementia education, advice about community support, access to carer support meetings, cognitive stimulation programmes and social activities.

What: Debbie Barber: Ceramics art show

Where: Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi, Whakatāne library and gallery

Artist talk: 1-3pm, Saturday, September 14