ODYSSÉE TEMPORELLE Another look at dementia, is a project executed by photographer Caroline Nadia in collaboration with the team of a nursing home in Bordeaux (France).

Wandering or ambulation is a behavior that is identified as deviant from what is expected of a person who is too old. And in dementia, it becomes a problem because it is identified as a source of risks, of unforeseen or dangerous events. However it is also the indicator of motor skills carrying desire.

“Moving, being someone in motion, going somewhere, going somewhere else, grabbing something, going to someone, looking for relief…”

In their wandering, these people are usually struggling with reminiscences of the past. They seem to be confronted with places of the past, to return to the usual gestures, to be seized by false recognitions. These subjects evolve in a form of spatio-temporal condensation: They are neither quite where they are, nor exactly where they would like to be.

Caroline Nadia proposes by the photographic composition to represent the meeting of these two realities: the grasping of a present moment by the portrait joining a reminiscent space of each model.

During the time of contemplation, these images offer the opportunity for a shared imaginary journey renewing a link between the image of oneself and the psychic topography of the photographed subject.