Lived experience webinar: The power of creative self-expression

In this lived experience webinar, you'll discover how art can serve as a therapeutic outlet for caregivers, hear personal stories of strength and resilience shared through photography, music, writing and the performing arts and learn how creative self-expression can foster community and connection.

We are delighted to introduce you to our four panelists, each of whom share unique perspectives through their art.

Liz Amaral was the caregiver for her husband, David, who was diagnosed with Fronto-temporal Dementia.  After his death, she authored the book Love in a Different Way: A Journey Through Dementia. She uses her strategies from fifty years of working in the field of parenting support – making sense of children from the inside out – to unravel the complexities of dementia as it infiltrates her husband’s brain.

Liz and David’s book, Love in a Different Way: A Journey Through Dementia, written as an act of love, tells two stories: a loving wife thrust suddenly into the role of caregiver as she watches her life partner disappear into illness, and, through artwork and journal entries, the story of a loving husband who was trying to process and explain what was happening to him and ultimately say goodbye. 

Based in North Vancouver, Geoffrey Bird is a photographer, writer and educator. He recently received his Master of Arts degree in Photography from Falmouth University in the U.K.

During his two years of study, his photography—in collaboration with his wife—has grown into a purposeful practice aimed at bringing awareness to Alzheimer’s disease, reducing the stigma surrounding it, and raising funds to support education and research initiatives. 

Geoffrey’s wife, Erin, was diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 55. 

Using photography as a tool for advocacy and storytelling, Geoffrey’s work explores the intersections of memory, identity, and loss and grief. The work has been part of a healing process for him and his wife and he hopes the images serve as a source of healing for others as well.

Stolen: Flowers for My Wife is a self-published photobook that compares the delicate petals of a hydrangea to the brain of a person living with dementia. Once vibrant and full of colour, eventually the petals grow fragile and begin to fade, yet their beauty and essence remain unchanged.

Follow Geoffrey on Instagram: Geoffrey Bird (@geoffrey_bird)

Terry Marshall lives in Kaslo, a little village on the shores of Kootenay Lake. He supports his wife Janet who lives in a residential care home, with cognitive decline and mobility issues, but otherwise good health.  Terry visits Janet everyday and together they share their music on their YouTube channel, Kaslo Penny Lane Studios. They now have fans all over the world.  Terry is a retired elementary school teacher and Janet taught music at their home.  They’ve been married for 45 years and raised three sons and five grandkids and now even have great grandkids.  They’ve shared great musical adventures and travel memories and continue to enjoy life in the blessing that is Kaslo.

Watch Terry and Janet perform a series of musical tributes as well as their own original songs on their YouTube channel, Kaslo Penny Lane Studios.

Peter Morin is a grandson of Tahltan Ancestor Artists. For the past 28 years of his artistic career, Morin’s artistic offerings can be organized around four themes: articulating Land/Knowing, articulating Indigenous Grief/Loss, articulating Community Knowing, and understanding the Creative Agency/Power of the Indigenous body. The work takes place in galleries, in community, in collaboration, and on the land. All of the work is informed by dreams, Ancestors, Tahltan ways of knowing, and close family members. Morin is the son of Janelle Creyke (Crow Clan, Tahltan Nation) and Pierre Morin (French-Canadian). Morin currently holds a tenured appointment in the Faculty of Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto, but his most important job is being a son to his mom and dad.

Feathers are another form of memory is a project to honour how Tahltan knowledge is still performed by people who have Alzheimer’s disease. It reflects on the Tahltan Creation Story, exploring light, darkness, and the ongoing cosmology, imagining T’sesk’iye Chō's role in releasing and returning the light.

Re-Reading Tahltan can be described as web-based artwork that includes a series of reading performances. Peter encourages listeners to imagine each word is like a rain drop falling back into the Tahltan territory.