How does one visualise an invisible illness? Janez, my stepfather, is facing dementia. Being a physicist, his concept and understanding of logic are becoming illogical. Within Janez’s mind, history and the present collide. "Seventy Years Ago Was Seven Minutes Ago" is a series of photographs made over five years of the quiet, tender, and contemplative man, whose life and perception of time is slowly, but steadily turning upside down. I explore dementia through the collaborative means of therapeutic photography, exploration of his memory and the documentation of the ephemerality of his presence and transience of time in the framework of domestic life. Using various fragmented visual strategies, such as photography, drawings, and writings, I’m giving voice and visuals to Janez. The project aims to visualise the complexities of dementia, but also give a sense that dementia is something that gives, rather than takes away the meaning of life.
