Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Dundee
Personhood in Dementia Project 2010-2013 ('Signs of Change" Form, Australia 2010, 'CraftCube:Research', Solo exhibition, DMY International-Design Festival Berlin 2010, Crafts Council Conference 2010, Workshop Library 09/2010; Sage Gateshead Northern Design Festival 2013; Momentum, Craft in the Bay, Cardiff, 2011; University of Hertfordshire, 2012; Anchor Points, Solo Exhibition, Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland 2012; Conference paper CHI 2013 ACM)
Dementia is increasingly important in design research yet the focus is seldom the exploration or support of self. The concept of Personhood offers potential for preserving the agency of persons with dementia. We leveraged this potential to explore how design could facilitate exploration into the experiential qualities of dementia through bringing a person with dementia (Gillian) and her husband (John) into the heart of the design process and also to explore how co-creative design of (digital) jewellery could support Gillian’s sense of self and personhood. Through collaboration with computer scientists (digtal) jewellery was made for Gillian from intrinsically personal materials, referencing things from her life.
The research was disseminated through exhibitions, government and craft council reports, and international conferences. The methodological contribution relates to the quality of the engagement achieved in the complex context of dementia. Bespoke probes designed to scaffold reflection and dialogue around social/relational aspects of personhood facilitated acts of deep, multi-faceted remembering and sense making and can be used as such by others.
The enquiry exemplifies the value of and ways in which persons with dementia can be brought into the design process to reveal nuances of experience. The research established guides for design relating to anchoring, capturing, supporting sense of self and connecting to relationships. New insights were revealed around temporal considerations for design in dementia forced by the orientation of self toward relationship and change. Resulting artefacts are testament to the meanings expressed and examples of digital jewellery to support personhood in dementia. Jewellery and probes served as examples of how shifting, intangible notions of self can be given tangible and meaningful form. The empirical contribution arose from what the participants described about their experience of dementia. We now understand much more about personhood in dementia and how to access that world through design.
