2023 Bob and Diane Fund Grant
Helen's images of her mother and family made an immediate impact on us when looking at this year's submissions for the Bob and Diane Fund grant. The images were intense and unblinking in their intimacy, all on top of their strong use of color and composition. While her mother appears alone in beautiful portraits and serene settings, Helen has focused on her mother's eyes, revealing the heartbreaking disconnection and disorientation that lives just behind the sad stare. Every one should spend time with these photographs and appreciate what Helen and her family have done: preparing us all for the possibilities that Alzheimer's and dementia present
— Chip Somodevilla, Sr. Photographer, Getty Images News
No Longer Her(e)
by HELEN RIMELL
My mother was my rock, a ray of light in a troubled world; losing her to dementia is the most difficult thing I have ever had to face. I began this project as a way of preserving her, of keeping who she was alive; a response to this horrific disease as it stole her from us, piece by piece. These images are fragments of her life and in making them, a way of ensuring she isn’t forgotten.
My mother was diagnosed with early onset vascular dementia in 2015, changing all our lives forever. The symptoms were mild at first, and the disease progressed slowly, this changed over time and by 2019 she needed full time care. I moved back to my hometown and became her full time caregiver in 2021; leaving the life I had made to do so.
My aim is to make a body of work that portrays the brutal and heartbreaking reality of living with dementia, in what I hope is a moving, raw, powerful and real representation. No hiding from the horror and indignities; the true face of dementia, the pain, heartbreak, fear, and all that is lost, whilst also showing her sense of humour and the intimate relationship between myself and my mother. Now the roles have switched, and I have gone from her child to her caregiver. It is an incredibly difficult journey for us both, but one that I have chosen to take with her for as long as I can.
Making this work whilst being her primary caregiver, which is physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting; as well as trying to process my own grief in losing the person I love with all my heart. This has been overwhelming and unbelievably challenging, which I believe comes through in the images, and is a huge part of not only this work, but also the experience of caring for someone with dementia.
