Tony Luciani: A mother and son's photographic journey through dementia
Tony Luciani: Călătoria foto a unei mame cu fiul ei prin demență
Tony Luciani picked up a camera in 2014 to document his aging mom's struggle with dementia, beginning a four-year-long voyage of discovery. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
moved in with me,
s-a mutat la mine,
with memory loss and accepting her age.
și cu acceptarea vârstei.
as comfortable as possible,
cât mai confortabil,
and see her just ... there.
and I needed a break from my painting.
și aveam nevoie de o pauză de pictat.
I had just bought.
pe care abia îl cumpărasem.
it had all sorts of dials,
să le testez,
facing this large mirror,
cu fața la oglindă,
to the only bathroom in the house.
"I need to use the washroom."
„Am nevoie să merg la baie."
Trebuie să fac ceva."
we could do together.
mountain village in central Italy,
din centrul Italiei,
her father died of pneumonia,
de pneumonie,
with all the heavy chores.
cu toată munca grea.
stranger twice her age.
de două ori mai mare decât ea.
and was pushed into adulthood.
care a ajuns brusc la maturitate.
when she was only 16.
of a very large sewing department.
unui departament de croitorie foarte mare.
of immigrant workers,
from translation books.
cuvinte din dicționare.
Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish,
spaniolă, portugheză, daneză,
all around the house.
peste tot prin casă.
and determination to succeed
și ambiția ei de a reuși
with Mom as portrait model.
având-o pe mama ca model.
she talked, and I listened.
ea a vorbit și eu am ascultat.
and how she was feeling now.
și despre cum se simte acum.
memoria de scurtă durată,
her younger years.
de anii tinereții.
and I sketched them out.
by acting out the scenarios myself.
jucând eu însumi în scenariu.
more about photography.
despre fotografie.
she felt wanted and needed.
dorită și folositoare.
came from an old German film I'd seen,
de la un vechi film nemțesc
looked more like "E.T."
mi-a ieșit mai mult „E.T."
thinking it was a total failure,
declarând-o un eșec total,
my particular vision.
decided to post it online anyway.
să o postez online.
of frustration and sadness
I forget what they are?"
I forget what they are?"
and full-time painter,
all the difficulties, we played.
ne jucam.
"How did I get so old, so fast?"
for my oil paintings.
și pentru picturile mele în ulei.
to the floor in the basement.
and bring my schoolwork with me.
să îmi fac lecțiile.
in this overstuffed chair.
pe un scaun supraîncărcat.
and the repetitive stitching sounds
și sunetul monoton de cusătură
in my studio for safekeeping.
la mine în atelier.
back to my childhood.
de copilărie.
sitting behind me,
machine she sewed at
în spatele ei, privind-o,
to keep her busy and thinking.
ca s-o țin ocupată și concentrată.
10 pictures a day of anything she wanted.
zece poze pe zi a orice dorește.
in her life before this.
un aparat foto în mână.
and talk about our work.
despre ceea ce lucram.
why they were relevant.
și de ce erau importante.
would just bluntly say,
with words or without.
fie că vorbea sau nu.
hasn't ended with Mom.
nu s-a terminat.
living residence,
to be in my house.
să mai locuiască cu mine.
But you know what? That's OK.
Dar știți ceva? E în regulă.
when she sees me.
or ethical on my part.
the reasons for doing them.
I appreciated and loved them.
și cât îi iubesc.
and really listening.
să fii prezent și să asculți.
a part of something, anything.
au nevoie să simtă că aparțin cuiva.
exceptionally profound that's shared --
from everyone, please?
și să zâmbiți, vă rog?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tony Luciani - ArtistTony Luciani picked up a camera in 2014 to document his aging mom's struggle with dementia, beginning a four-year-long voyage of discovery.
Why you should listen
Tony Luciani picked up a camera in 2014 to document his aging mom's struggle with dementia, and it was the imaginative expression of the collaboration that propelled his work internationally. After more than 40 years as a full-time painter, Luciani garnered worldwide attention with this four-year-long photography series. Their voyage of discovery, expressing the benefits of inclusion and participation within a creative medium, has gone beyond the boundaries of recognizing it as just a personal visual diary.
Luciani graduated from Toronto's Ontario College of Art in 1977 with prestigious honors. At age 21, he was encouraged to continue with his fifth-year post-graduate study in Florence, Italy. It was there that he found maturity while carefully observing the historical paintings of the Renaissance Masters. Upon returning, he was promptly accepted for representation by a well-respected and established Canadian art gallery.
In defining his work, Luciani prefers to be placed in a tradition of realism, which is both interpretive and characterized by focused observation. As a photographer, he likes defining his imagery as an "obvious extension" to what he already creates as an artist.
Luciani's art can be found in private, public and corporate collections globally. An unabridged edition of one-hundred photographs titled "MAMMA, In the Meantime" is in the collection of the local chapter of the Canadian Alzheimer Society. He is represented by Loch Gallery in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary.
Tony Luciani | Speaker | TED.com