Belong Where You Find Yourself
Community based project
​IN COLLABORATION WITH Alana Moore
Saskatchewan, Canada
2021-24

Photos by Alana Moore & Amber Phelps Bondaroff
Belong Where You Find Yourself was multi-year, community-engaged art project that brought together a group of 12 people navigating the challenges of dementia through the shared umbrella of artistic creation. The project included a group exhibition at the Godfrey Dean Art Gallery in Yorkton, SK, in the spring of 2023 that included multimedia artworks in drawing, painting, sculpture, video, photography, installation, and quilting. ​

Participating artists included:
  • Elaine Berrard & Herb Elder
  • Leon & Bonnie Jones
  • Merle & Dean Wiley
  • Ron & Pat Walton
  • Verna Off & Amanda Babey
  • Jeanette Haberstock & Twila Napoleoni

The project was unique in its collaborative approach, involving both the person living with dementia and their care partner. We focused on individualized creative practices rather than using a one-size-fits-all model. The goal was to support each artist in exploring their own creative projects, building on their personal skills and experiences. Lead artists met with individuals and small groups many times over the course of a year, prior to the exhibition.  

The project extended and expanded beyond the initial project guidelines and gallery exhibition. Additional elements included an exhibition catalogue and essay, a documentary film and a forthcoming learning module for post-secondary students introducing the field of socially engaged art and related dementia research. 

Additionally, a resource guide and creative art game entitled Abstract Dominos was designed, produced and distributed to care-homes and individuals living with dementia across the country. 

BWYFY was one of eight initiatives, supported by Dementia Supports in Rural Saskatchewan (DSRS), a five year (2019 -2024) collective impact initiative undertaken by the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU), University of Regina, and funded in part by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. The DSRS initiative sought to improve public awareness of the stigma and social isolation experienced by people living with dementia and their care partners in rural communities.

Get in touch with the artists through the project email: 
[email protected]
#BelongWhereYouFindYourself  #BWYFY​ ​​​
Picture
Verna Off, "Lighthouse." Ink on Paper, (2022).

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Photos by Kelly Litzenberger