An Empty Bliss, 2023-2025

Dementia affects an estimated 55 million people worldwide, according to data provided by WHO (World Health Organisation). Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe several diseases affecting memory, cognitive skills and the ability to perform daily activities. There are different forms of Dementia, but Alzheimer’s is the most common, accounting for 60-70% of cases worldwide. The discovery of Alzheimer’s disease is credited to Alois Alzheimer, a German Psychiatrist and Neuropathologist, for which the disease is named. The cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not currently known and there is no cure. My interest in Alzheimer’s disease and the broader spectrum of Dementia has developed over a period of around 10 years, when I first heard ‘An empty bliss beyond this World’ by Leyland Kirby a.k.a The Caretaker, which forms part of a long series of musical works about the ‘The Caretaker’s’ diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and the gradual deviation of memory and self. The name of this series of is a nod to The Caretaker, and the beginning of my journey into the unknown depths of memory loss and gradual cognitive decline. Over the last 10 years, I have sifted through countless research papers, case studies, articles and books on the disease which have provided insight into the disease. What goes on inside the mind of another person is always a mystery, but one can describe their inner world through communication (words, images, objects). However, in people with the advanced stages of dementia, the mind becomes an impenetrable fortress of darkness; a mental cavern without sunlight. One of the objectives of art is to enable us to peer into people’s lives and experiences - but how is this possible when their entire sense of self has been destroyed? Exploring the experience of Dementia and the gradual loss of memory and self can bring on a powerful, but viscerally unsettling experience of how we understand time, place and the self; reaching a point where reality falls apart. We come into life with nothing, and spend a lifetime constructing our sense of self, forming relationships, building careers, raising families and so on. But in the end, life returns to a state of nothingness.