From time to time, the Penn Memory Center will share selected pieces from Making Sense of Alzheimer’s, a project that explores how people understand and live with Alzheimer’s disease. Through essays, stories, and reflections, this series brings forward voices from patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, artists, and writers.
Cheney Orr had never planned to chronicle his father’s dementia.
In the early stages of decline, Cheney was simply doing what he always did: taking photos of the things that were happening around him, of his family.
“I didn’t start documenting it intentionally, let’s say. As a photographer, I have my camera with me almost all the time,” he said.
As the disease progressed, and a project began to form, Cheney used his camera to remove himself from the emotional, raw situation. He could distance himself from difficult moments, behind the camera.
Taking the photos brought the reality of the situation to life for him. He saw his father, his father interacting with his family, his father interacting with the world, and his father’s frontotemporal dementia, through the lens.
“Basically, that all changed for me as the disease worsened,” he said. “I would say, at that point, the camera became more of a shield. . . Whereas before, it was making me more aware of what was going on, and upsetting me more, when the disease had basically taken control, where there is no denying it at a certain point, then it became a shield. That was my process through things.”
The camera became more of a shield.