Photographs Illustrating Dementia with Respect and Dignity

**When Art Becomes Personal: Alicia Vera’s “Va a Llover Toda La Noche”**

Alicia Vera, a photographer known for her poignant and humanistic style, has unveiled a personal project that delves deep into the relationship with her mother, Concepcion, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2018. This project, now a self-published book titled “Va a Llover Toda La Noche,” captures her mother’s journey through a collection of portraits, archival images, and intimate ephemera such as text messages and emails.

The origins of this project are deeply personal. Vera often returned to her childhood home in Miami, finding notes left by her mother, including one that read, “va a llover toda la noche,” meaning “it’s going to rain all night.” This note struck a poetic chord with Vera, symbolizing the emotional tempest brought on by her mother’s diagnosis. Through the lens of her camera, Vera presents a narrative that is both a tribute and a means to reconnect with a mother she feels she barely knew, especially given cultural and geographical distances that once separated them.

Vera’s photography is marked by a distinct absence of voyeurism, offering instead an invitation into an intimate world. Previous works have shown her compassionate gaze in series like “Basketball in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca” (2018) and “Stripped” (2009-11), where her subjects range from Indigenous youth to strippers. Her approach remains consistent in this latest endeavor; she photographs without reducing her mother’s dignity to the tropes often seen in representations of illness.

Concepcion is depicted with warmth, elegance, and agency. The portraits show her interacting with the world around her—opening curtains, savoring a peach, or cloaked in sunlight—invoking a sense of ongoing life rather than inevitable loss. These visions contrast sharply with clinical or stereotypical portrayals of Alzheimer’s, aiming instead to capture a complete human being whose identity extends beyond her illness.

Vera has allied with the Patient Caregiver Artist Coalition, underlining the necessity for new narratives in the understanding of caregiving. This collaboration underscores the project’s dialogue with broader questions about memory, identity, and familial love. The book’s epilogue, a heartfelt mix of Spanish and English, further reflects the complex dynamics of love, loss, and understanding—expressing an urgency in documenting fleeting memories before they slip away forever.

“Va a Llover Toda La Noche” serves not only as a personal catharsis for Vera but also as a beacon for those navigating similar experiences. Through this project, she demonstrates that art, at its core, is an expression of the human condition—resilient, tender, and ever so prone to change.