Photography memories shared at V&A Dundee Dementia Café
People living with dementia, their families and caregivers enjoyed an opportunity to learn more about a new photography-focused exhibition at V&A Dundee’s free drop-in Dementia Café.
The Dementia Cafés’, run by Alzheimer Scotland are now a regular monthly event at V&A Dundee thanks to the support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery, offering a welcoming and caring environment where people living with dementia and their carers can socialise, share experiences, and engage in new activities.
Whilst refreshments were served at the April event, attendees were invited to find out more about V&A Dundee’s new exhibition, Photo City: How Images Shape the Urban World and shown a series of photographs from the show, including the first arial view photograph of Edinburgh from 1920, along with images of places such as New York, Paris and Las Vegas.
Old and new photographs of Dundee were also displayed and discussed, including photos from 1972 by Dundee-based photographer Joseph McKenzie, and the new, large-scale collage portrait of Dundee made up of thousands of individual images created earlier this year by Japanese photographer, Sohei Nishino.
Malcolm Hazelwood, a regular attendee at the Dementia Café events at V&A Dundee, said “My confidence has grown, and you feel loved again by other people. Where normally you just walk past them in the street. It’s a good help in getting over this dementia stigma because we’re still human and we still have brains, just ours work a little bit differently.”
Jeni Sinclair, Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Advisor, said “It’s been brilliant to see these go from strength to strength – we now regularly attract around 50 local folk who are affected by dementia. It’s a great opportunity to come along and meet others in a similar position. We’ve seen friendships grow and develop, enabling rapport and connection. This, plus the fantastic setting means the cafés are a regular date in the diary for many.”
“For many, this Dementia Café is often the first contact post diagnosis, enabling people to come together in a supportive and upbeat environment. Developing from the Dementia Café events, there have been opportunities to visit the many exhibitions, tours and workshops – empowering those to live well with dementia.”
Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said “It’s wonderful to hear from people like Malcolm on the positive impact that attending the café has on people like him who are living with dementia, as well as their loved ones – the power of a good chat and a hot drink should never be underestimated! I’m really pleased that money raised by our players is helping to make this possible.”
Jo Mawdsley, Head of Learning at V&A Dundee, said “With the generous support provided by People’s Postcode Lottery and in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland we have been able to plan ahead and support monthly dementia café events throughout 2024, providing a welcoming and inspiring space in our community for those living with dementia.”
V&A Dundee drop-in dementia cafés’ run by Alzheimer Scotland are free to attend and run from 2.00-3.30 pm on the third Tuesday of the month throughout 2024. https://vam.ac.uk/dundee/whatson/events/dementia-cafe-4