Tony Luciani: A mother and son's photographic journey through dementia
Tony Luciani: Uma viagem fotográfica de uma mãe e um filho pela demência
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,
veio morar comigo,
with memory loss and accepting her age.
de perda de memória
as comfortable as possible,
em frente a meu cavalete,
and see her just ... there.
e a via ali parada.
and I needed a break from my painting.
I had just bought.
que havia comprado.
it had all sorts of dials,
que eu queria aprender.
facing this large mirror,
a um grande espelho,
to the only bathroom in the house.
do único banheiro da casa.
"I need to use the washroom."
"Preciso usar o banheiro".
we could do together.
que podíamos fazer juntos.
mountain village in central Italy,
aldeia de montanha no centro de Itália,
her father died of pneumonia,
morreu de pneumonia,
with all the heavy chores.
com todos os trabalhos pesados.
stranger twice her age.
com o dobro da idade dela.
and was pushed into adulthood.
when she was only 16.
quando tinha apenas 16 anos.
em uma fábrica de roupas
of a very large sewing department.
de um grande departamento de costura.
of immigrant workers,
de trabalhadoras imigrantes,
from translation books.
palavras de livros de tradução.
Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish,
em francês, grego, espanhol,
polonês, russo, romeno,
all around the house.
and determination to succeed
e a determinação dela
o que ela gostava de fazer.
with Mom as portrait model.
habilidades fotográficas,
she talked, and I listened.
ela falava e eu escutava.
and how she was feeling now.
e de como se sentia agora.
a memória de curto prazo,
her younger years.
os anos de juventude dela.
e ela me contava histórias.
and I sketched them out.
by acting out the scenarios myself.
e eu mesmo representava as situações.
more about photography.
sobre fotografia.
a representação.
she felt wanted and needed.
e necessária novamente.
em frente às câmeras.
came from an old German film I'd seen,
filme alemão que eu tinha visto
looked more like "E.T."
era mais parecido com o "E.T.".
thinking it was a total failure,
pensando que era um fracasso total,
my particular vision.
com minha visão particular.
decided to post it online anyway.
decidi publicá-la on-line.
of frustration and sadness
está tão repleta de coisas para dizer,
I forget what they are?"
eu me esqueço delas?"
está tão repleta de coisas para dizer,
I forget what they are?"
eu me esqueço delas?"
and full-time painter,
all the difficulties, we played.
nós brincávamos.
se sentia feliz.
por estar envelhecendo.
"How did I get so old, so fast?"
tanto, tão depressa?"
for my oil paintings.
para minhas pinturas a óleo.
para toda a família
to the floor in the basement.
and bring my schoolwork with me.
e levava minha lição de casa comigo.
in this overstuffed chair.
em uma cadeira estofada.
and the repetitive stitching sounds
e os sons repetitivos da costura
in my studio for safekeeping.
em meu estúdio por segurança.
back to my childhood.
a minha infância.
sitting behind me,
que se sentava atrás de mim,
machine she sewed at
máquina de costura,
vendo-a costurar,
to keep her busy and thinking.
para mantê-la ocupada e pensativa.
10 pictures a day of anything she wanted.
dez fotografias por dia
in her life before this.
uma câmera na vida.
and talk about our work.
e falávamos de nosso trabalho.
why they were relevant.
por que era relevante.
would just bluntly say,
dizia simplesmente:
with words or without.
com ou sem palavras.
hasn't ended with Mom.
não acabou com minha mãe.
living residence,
em uma residência assistida,
ficar em minha casa.
to be in my house.
But you know what? That's OK.
de uma coisa? Está tudo bem.
when she sees me.
sorriso quando me vê.
or ethical on my part.
the reasons for doing them.
I appreciated and loved them.
eu os estimava e amava.
and really listening.
de estar presente e escutar.
a part of something, anything.
uma parte de algo, qualquer coisa.
exceptionally profound that's shared --
que seja compartilhado.
quanto caminhar juntos.
from everyone, please?
e um sorriso, por favor?
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