Artwork display gives insight into living with dementia
Date added: 22 September 2023
Artwork created by members of one of KMPT’s dementia engagement groups is being showcased at a special exhibition at the University of Kent, after a local artist was particularly impressed with a display at the Canterbury Festival.
Forget-Me-Nots is an inclusive network of people living with a diagnosis of dementia supported by volunteers, students and KMPT staff. Together, they led a workshop about creativity and wellbeing at the city’s annual international celebration of arts, music and culture.
Supported by friends, artist Amanda Sefton Hogg and author Liz Jennings, several of the Canterbury collective’s reflective pieces are being displayed until the end of September, as part of the Open Book project at the university’s Templeman Library Special Collection exhibition.
The book making venture showcases the theme of refuge and was supported by The Arts Council. Forget-Me-Not peers worked together at crafting sessions to reflect on their lived experiences and express and present interpretations of their own safe havens.
KMPT Consultant Clinical Psychologist and group advocate Elizabeth Field said: “Every person living with dementia has something to contribute in life and for our members’ talent to be recognised and publicly celebrated is testament to just that.
“Those who took part in the venture told me how much they learned about themselves and other people and I am proud to be part of an alliance which continues to act as an advocate for dementia and counter the stigma and stereotypes surrounding it.”
Find out more about viewing The Open Book project: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/specialcollections/
To learn more about Forget-Me-Nots and KMPT’s dementia services, visit: www.kmpt.nhs.uk/get-involved/participation-and-involvement/living-with-dementia/forget-me-nots/
Check out what’s on at this year’s Canterbury Festival from 26 September – 4 November 2023: https://canterburyfestival.co.uk/
Come along and see the books for yourself and meet the makes and others on 4 November Living Together with Dementia: a creative expression - Canterbury Festival (wpengine.com)
