Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Applegate, Mary Alice--Exhibitions; Alzheimer's disease in art; Slides (Photography); Academic theses; Exhibition catalogs; Photographs;

Abstract

Metaphors of Memory is an installation of objects created during my studies in the Master of Arts program at the University of Northern Iowa from August 1995 to December 1996. The work was exhibited at Kamerick Art Gallery at the University of Northern Iowa on December 13-20, 1996. The installation summarizes and objectifies my observations and reflections on sociocultural phenomena arising from memory loss due to Alzheimer's Disease. My recent familial contact with Alzheimer's Disease led me to choose this as a subject for exploration in my art. My work comes from an instrumentalist or pragmatic perspective. Like artist and writer Richard Bolton, I see art as an instrument for the "development of critical consciousness" which "builds correspondences with the social world beyond the art object" (Bolton 22). Though my work is not specifically political or documentary in nature, it is derived from close examination of the many ramifications of Alzheimer's Disease. To gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, I visited Alzheimer's patients at a nursing home in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Working in cooperation with the staff of the nursing home, I obtained releases from families, allowing me to visit and sketch certain patients. I later received permission to photograph one patient whose case seemed most compelling.

Year of Submission

1996

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Art

First Advisor

Crit Streed

Second Advisor

Dick Colburn

Third Advisor

Tom Stancliffe

Comments

The source material included 20 photographic slides.

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1996

Object Description

1 PDF file (16 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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