Through this machine quilted piece completed over 20 years ago, McWilliam explores Alzheimer’s disease, a condition described by the UK Alzheimer’s society as “a physical illness which damages a person’s brain eventually causing dementia”. Alzheimers Research UK estimate that 944,000 people are currently living with dementia – an umbrella term covering a wide range of diseases linked to memory impairment, cognitive function and social ability.
For Irene the interest was personal; her mother developed Alzheimers. A visit to New York in 2000 inspired the imagery. “On the side of a skyscraper I saw an image of a person with the words ‘Return your mind to an upright position’. This reminded me of mum”.
Against the background images of various iconic buildings and tourist destinations in New York, the head silhouette of a person with their brain visible dominates. The brain size decreases towards the quilt edges, disappearing completely in one corner. For McWilliam, this illustrates the “brain … shrinking as the illness progresses”.
The machine quilting in red thread “makes the piece look like the much folded brain surface” and conveys how the “brain neurons … fail to meet up as the condition worsens”.
McWilliam’s final comment may echoe the sentiments of family members whose loved ones have been diagnosed and are living with Alzheimers: “I worry that I may develop it”.
Dementia NI | 
