Age is a Privilege, Unless You Forget!
Debbie Castro
Royal Hibernian Academy
English
Softcover
Edition of 250
28 pages
165 x 220 mm
2023
ISBN 9781915408082
This supporting publication was issued on the occasion of Debbie Castro’s exhibition Age is a Privilege, Unless You Forget! which took place at the Royal Hibernian Academy from the 24th of August to the 1st of October 2023. Age is a Privilege, Unless You Forget! is an intimate collaboration with the artist’s father, Charles. Multi-layered, it explores the perspective of a person living with dementia with an aim to open up a dialogue for the wider community. There are no answers and no guarantees with this illness, only that it gets progressively worse. The number of people with dementia worldwide is thought to rise to 250 million by 2051 and as such, needs to be discussed as much as possible now.
At the core of the exhibition, Castro considers the life of her father Charles and elements of it that she was previously unaware of before he was diagnosed with dementia eleven years ago, such as his penchant for photography and documenting moments in his everyday life, from site visits for his role as agricultural trader to family holidays and birthday parties. By illustrating the development of her father’s illness and giving his experience a physical form in her exhibition, Debbie invites others to gain a profound insight into the loss of memory. The personal becomes universal. Inside the lost and found memories of Debbie and her father, we are encouraged to form a mosaic of our own recollections, reveries and feelings.
This publication includes text by Patrick T. Murphy, Sarah McAuliffe, Carmel Whelan, Dr. Declan Lyons, Dr. Deirdre Hussey, Dr. Sinéad O’Sullivan and Sandra Ruane.
(source: https://rhagallery.ie/events/learning/new-perspectives-panel-discussion-in-response-to-age-is-a-privilege-unless-you-forget/)
About the Artist
Debbie Castro is a conceptual documentary artist whose work explores the fragile terrain between memory and forgetting, permanence and impermanence, presence and loss. Rooted in photography but extending into moving image, text, and sculptural installation, Castro’s practice pushes the photographic medium beyond its flatness — transforming images into tactile, physical encounters that evoke the texture of memory and the residue of emotional experience.
debbiecastro.com
(source: https://www.debbiecastro.com/)
About the Publisher
The Royal Hibernian Academy is an artist based and artist orientated institution dedicated to developing, affirming and challenging the public’s appreciation and understanding of traditional and innovative approaches to the visual arts. The Academy achieves its objectives through its exhibition education and collection programmes. The Academy is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, through fundraising initiatives, through the earned revenue from its Annual Exhibition and by the Benefactors, Patrons and Friends of the Academy.
rhagallery.ie
(source: https://www.cliste.ie/school-tours-royal-hibernian-academy/)
