It’s a condition which still has no cure, but will affect millions of people in the years ahead.
And an Aberdeen art student has now taken a series of poignant photos of people with dementia which are being displayed this week.
Will Vernon, 22, who is studying contemporary art practice at Gray’s School of Art, captured the portraits of people he met while volunteering at Alzheimer Scotland.
His subjects are surrounded by their most treasured possessions which he hopes will highlight individuality.
He also wanted to let the strength of their personalities shine through while in their own home environment rather than a resource centre.
Mr Vernon, whose previous projects explored memory loss and concussion in rugby players, said: “The people I was working with were really inspiring to me.”
“I got an insight into their unique identities and I wanted to capture that core of who they were and continued to be, even while dealing with dementia.”
He added: “When I spoke to them, they had so many stories and I thought that was something I really needed to explore.”
Mr Vernon, who hopes to apply for the art school’s graduate-in-residence scheme, initially volunteered with the NHS in an elderly interim ward before becoming an art volunteer with Alzheimer Scotland.
Since then, he has been selected as an invited graduate to exhibit at the Society of Scottish Artists’ annual show.
He shot his photos in an analogue medium format and used a cable release in order to capture portraits which were as natural as possible.
The photographs, entitled “The Draughtsman”, “The Beauty Queen”, “The Stock Manager”, “The Welder” and “The Domestic”, have been on show at the annual Gray’s Degree Show this week, with one piece being purchased by Robert Gordon University for its arts and heritage collection.
