Artist Statement
Growing up I have always been extremely close with my Grandfather. He only lived a street over from my house. My parents both worked during the day so my Grandpa would always wait for me to get off the bus from school. Because he also lived so close to us I was able to walk over to his house whenever I wanted to get away or just felt like going to see him. I even had my own room at his house and I would spend lots of time with him. My grandpa was a widower and never drove a car in his life. He was a home body and enjoyed simple things like sitting on his porch and feeding the birds’ his old bread.
My Grandpa is now eighty nine years old and has dementia. He had to move into a nursing home because he needed around the clock care. In the beginning he was still the same comedian he had always been with a huge sense of humor. As his disease got worse he began to lose more and more of his memory and his health started going downhill. He seemed to always remember the things that had happened so long ago. We would always sit and talk about how it was when I was little because that is what he could remember the most. When this all started happening it brought me to thinking more about my own memories.
His house was for sale for almost two years when our family decided to rent it out. I found myself going to his house and walking around and reminiscing a lot. I felt like I needed to take it all in again before all his things were gone. It was very surreal to think this was really not his home anymore. Soon another family would live there and it wouldn’t ever be the same. While looking around at his things it started to bring back so many wonderful memories of when I was younger and he had lived there. The smallest details reminded me so much about who he truly was. I wanted a way to remember every little memory or story he had left behind there.
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