Art project in Åland islands
The project started with Sari Laine´s hobby; loving archipelago, getting inspired by them and making art with people suffering from memory disorders. Having a disease affects a person´s mental health and that way also his life to a great extent.
Making art in projects, succeeding and getting to be a part of something strengthens self-confidence and rises the quality of life. In the process of creating art, new methods are made up - the people suffering from memory disorders are active in developing new methods of creating art. They create the methods that suit them best - and in the best case these same methods can be used with other people suffering from similar problems.
Photograph: Sari Laine
Photograph: Maila Kokkonen
The aims of the project
The main aim of the project is rising the quality of life of eldery people via making art with the help of therapeutic methods. It is also very important to find and develope new methods to affect on people´s well-being and make their life more enjoyable through art, had they a memory disease or not. Everyday actions like eating, dressing up, moving and talking get easier when the person is mentally more stable and is enjoying life. Even the smallest little things - like just taking part in group activity and singing songs - can have a big affect on one´s behaviour and mental health.
In action
The project will be put in several institution and private homes. The methods include musical activities, like composing and singing, and many things that can be seen as art; for exaple painting and photographing. In addition to these, all the new methods created during the project will be used. One of the methods is creating stories together with the people suffering from memory disorders: we will interview eldery people, find informationin the libraries, museums, archives and private collections. Being well-educated on history is very important when it comes to working with people that have memory problems: we need to know about their history, in what kind of circumstances and enviroments they have been living, in order to work with them and understand them better.
Photograph: Sari Laine
Products
The project will produce many works of art, including paintings, short stories, poem and songs. These works also include many compositions made with therapeutic methods such as ones inspired by pictures (a method developed by Sari Laine, where on composes inspired by pictures in front of him) and ones that are used to tell a story (for example a person suffering from dementia might not speak, but is able to compose music).
(Translation: K.L.)
Photographs: Maila Kokkonen
Collaborator: Folkhälsan på Åland