Life-long Andover resident Emily Kearns' art installation, "Dementia's Way: A Meditation on Presence and Connection," will open to the public on Saturday, Feb. 11 at LynnArts' Neal Rantoul Black Box Theater, 25 Exchange St., Lynn.
The installation seeks to provide a community space to collectively consider the redemptive and grace-filled aspects of memory loss and dementia, according to the artist. Participants visit five stations where voices from interviews mix with other texts including video, photos, and games and speak of grace, heartbreak, presence, and connection.
"Dementia's Way is an invitation to explore and honor pilgrimages made as we lose our minds - as we transition from identities based on managing data and information through recall and processing, to those based simply on presence," according to a release. "The installation asks us to consider who we become when we are no longer able to meet society's standards of competency in managing information - individuals who still need to be accepted and supported simply because we are - not because of what we can do."
Kearns is interested in inviting communities to reflect on and participate in meaningful practices that support those who are most vulnerable and to create structural change for a more just society.
She holds a doctorate in sociology and has extensive teaching experience including teaching interdisciplinary courses on dance, ritual and performance at Emerson College during which students created public "happenings" on the Boston Common to open spaces for reflection and to raise awareness on social issues of the students' choosing.
Her decade-long journey with her parents' dementias was transformative and moved her away from an academic career and into elder services, she said.
Joining her installation efforts are Michael Testa, audio engineer and composer from the Lowell Area; Sally Matson, living history performer; Diane Zacaroli Spera, hospice chaplain and liturgical artist; Henry Yoshimura, stunt; and project consultants Debby Segil, Christina Christodoulopoulos, Gary Roma and Myriam Alexander-Kearns.
MAKE A CONNECTION
Rehearsal on Friday, Feb. 10 from 7 to 8 p.m. Registration required.
Free and open to the public on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 12 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Donations accepted.
Closing reception on Sunday, Feb. 12 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the gallery.
For more information or to register for the rehearsal, contact Emily Kearns at emily_kearns@yahoo.com.
