‘Dementia Painting’: Film Screening and Q&A with Stefan Szczelkun

Join us for this screening of Stefan Szczelkun’s film at Turf.

Joan Colnbrook was an artist who got vascular Dementia in her late Eighties. Most of her life was focused on being a mother to three children and housewife in the suburb of Shepperton-on-Thames.

When she was diagnosed her son Stefan began to think about how he could best relate to her in this stage of her life. He documented three aspects of her life using video: her collection of needlework; the songs of her youth; and supporting her to carry on painting. He made short videos of each of these topics which were enthusiastically received. The video about her painting focuses on the works she made in the last four years of her life, whilst she was living in a care-home in Walton. Dementia seemed to liberate another kind of art from her which was exciting to witness.

We’re encouraging intergenerational collaboration within all of our workshops & events as part of current project Squidgy World. All ages are welcome and we’d especially love for you to spread the word to people aged 65+! You only need to book for one if you would like to bring more than one caregiver.

ABOUT STEFAN SZCZELKUN

Stefan Szczelkun is an artist born in 1948, who, in recent years, has been working with artist books, video, sound and archives. He lives locally in Thornton Heath.