Forget-me-not — Alzheimer Catalunya Foundation
There are words that should never go together. Like 'vacation' and 'rain', 'love' and 'kilometers' or 'grandmother' and 'Alzheimer'. Unfortunately, I had to live this last one. That's why, when I had the chance to work with Alzheimer Catalunya Fundació I didn't hesitate. This was the birth of ‘No-me-olivides’ ('Forget-me-not'), a box of memories whose content disappears, as happens with the memory of people with Alzheimer's disease.
The box contains the memories of 25 people with Alzheimer's and 25 reinterpretations made by people from the world of art, communication and sport. Among them are the singer Joan Dausà, the illustrator La Prados, the journalist Toni Soler or the motoGP rider Maverick Viñales.
Each sheet was printed using a technique that made the content progressively disappear, recreating what happens in the mind of people with dementia. Specifically, we used the method used to develop analog photos. We did not seal the ink on the paper, so when the box was opened and the contents were exposed to light they gradually faded.
We used pink darkroom photographic paper. As it came into contact with the light, it changed color, going through lilac, yellow and, finally, gray tones. This is a tribute to the forget-me-not flower, which gives the project its name.
Darkroom printing process.
White is the main color of the box, symbolizing the emptiness of memory loss. For the typography we chose an irregular font that represents the imperfection of memory. In addition, we printed the cover text in silver on white, deliberately making it difficult to read, just as it’s difficult for people with Alzheimer to remember their past.
We made 9 boxes by hand, sheet by sheet, in 3 languages: Catalan, Spanish and English. One of the boxes was auctioned in an event for more than 200 people. With the help of Penguin Random House, we edited and published a physical book so the stories wouldn’t be lost completely. All funds raised were donated to Alzheimer’s patients and their families and the project was done on a zero budget.
