Art exhibition challenging misconceptions about dementia head on opens in Limavady

Local charity Dementia NI is hosting a unique exhibition at Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, Limavady.

The exhibition which opened on Saturday, 4th November runs until Saturday, 25th November, exploring what it is really like living with dementia in Northern Ireland and challenging widespread stigma about the condition.

Open Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 5pm, Saturdays 9:30am to 1pm, with late night opening on Wednesday and Thursday 5pm to 7pm, Real Lives: The Art of Living With Dementia will showcase captivating photography, striking patchwork quilts and moving poetry. The exhibition features 45 pieces created by Dementia NI members, all of whom live with a diagnosis of dementia.

There are over 20,000 people living with dementia across Northern Ireland and this number is projected to rise to 60,000 by 2050*, due in part to our ageing population. Years of stigma and misunderstanding have led to common misconceptions about what it means to live with dementia. In fact, dementia has been reported as the condition people fear the most, with over half (56%) of people putting off seeking a diagnosis for up to a year or more**. 

Dementia NI’s exhibition sets out to challenge these misconceptions, transforming how people view the condition and starting conversations through the medium of art. It shares a message of hope that many people with dementia are still able to enjoy life in the same way as before their diagnosis and live well with dementia.

The exhibition features patchwork quilts created during an online project organised by Dementia NI and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, to help local people with dementia stay active during lockdown. Working with Arts Council art tutors, Dementia NI members were encouraged to make their own heirloom quilts which tell the story of their lives.

It includes a quilt by Dementia NI member Yvonne Thompson, who lives in Newtownabbey. Yvonne’s vibrant quilt draws on her working days as a District Nursing Sister and depicts happy times with her family at their caravan in Castlerock.

“I really enjoyed working on this arts project,” says Yvonne. “My quilt shows the family caravan in Castlerock which has an important place in my heart. My family love to spend time there and it's where I holidayed with my parents as a child. I would love people to come away from this exhibition feeling that people with dementia can keep achieving things and learning new skills. I hope it encourages people to start conversations about dementia and ask questions about the condition. As this exhibition shows, being diagnosed does not mean your life is over, you can live well with dementia and continue to reach your full potential.”

The free exhibition also features photographs taken by Dementia NI members, including Davie McElhinney from Enniskillen, with support from Arts Care. Through poignant photographs, Davie tells his story of the emotions he experienced after diagnosis and the journey he went on from shock and despair to acceptance and hope.

“After a diagnosis of dementia, it is still possible to learn new skills, experience new things, and achieve something worthwhile,” says Davie. “It is my hope that the stigma of dementia continues to be challenged and we can have an open dialogue around how to challenge assumptions about dementia when they appear. The biggest misconception about dementia is that it’s an elderly person’s illness but that’s not the case.

"Many of us [Dementia NI members] are early onset and are living well with medication and support from Dementia NI. It’s trying to break that misconception; most people only know the media image.”

Dementia NI Member and Trustee Davie McElhinney took photos telling the story of his journey with dementia.

Emma Green, Empowerment Facilitator for the Western area at Dementia NI, added, “Real Lives: The Art of Living with Dementia Exhibition takes you on a journey. As you walk around the pieces, you are getting an inside glimpse of the thoughts and feelings of Dementia NI’s members, as they come to acknowledge and understand their diagnosis of dementia, through art. You get to see the creative ways in how they tell their stories, of times of despair and of hope, of challenges and of overcoming, with visually stunning photos and hand made quilts and with poems expressing their hearts.

“This type of exhibition, coming from people living well with dementia, speaks of how much they want to break the stigma and make positive changes for others coming behind them with the same condition, while giving voice to a message that they still have more to give even after a diagnosis of dementia”.

Dementia NI’s Empowerment Groups meet regularly across Northern Ireland. They are free of charge and anyone who has received a diagnosis and is in the early to middle stages of dementia may like to attend. For more info call 028 9693 1555 or email info@dementiani.org

If you would like more information on the exhibition or to speak to one of our members, please email jane@dementiani.org or call 07966 881 422.

* Statistic provided by Age UK

** Statistic provided by the Alzheimer’s Society