Started out as an unconventional show by Asbestos in Atelier Now in August concerning the slow decay of his mother, Helena as her memories disintegrate from her advancing Alzheimers. The journey was represented by a series of 15 chalk drawings on blackboards depicting photos from Helena’s life.
Now, these works are being placed out in the open, letting them fade or be destroyed, not by him, but by the vagaries of serendipity and chance.
For the artist, this destruction isn’t distressing or upsetting, as he sees these works as transient and ephemeral. The value in them is how they cement these beautiful moments in his own memory and let him hold onto these parts of his mother’s life.
This exhibition is also part of a wider film project between Asbestos and film director Ross Killeen of Motherland. Both have experienced trauma from their mothers suffering from Alzheimers and Dementia respectively. “We want to create a film that shifts facts from assumptions and blends these with imagination so that fresh meaning could be created. This film offers hope that the memories we have of our loved ones will endure and last, even if they’ve disintegrated in the mind of the sufferer.” The film will premiere at the DIFF in 2024.
