Life Portrait - Photography in Palliative Care
“Photographs contain meanings beyond their visual content that words alone cannot express. They contain stories and reasons why they are taken, kept, remembered or mourned when they are lost. The memories and emotions that photographs unconsciously trigger can be helpful in helping people explore different aspects of themselves and their lives.” (Judy Weiser)
Tina Ruisinger has been dealing with the issue of human transience for a long time. Her work Traces was about the things a person leaves behind when he dies, the current work Ashes (Asche - und was vom Ende bleibt, currently exhibited at Friedhof Forum Zürich), is about the concrete remains of the person after cremation. In doing so, she focuses on what was and is no more, but also on what lives on, in memories, dreams and fears. Life and death are the two physiological processes that all human beings go through, and their interface, the transition from one to the other, is what interests Ruisinger, not only as a human being, but also as an artist. Showing this through photographic means has led her to various photographic projects and thus, also to a more intensive examination of the finiteness of the lives of the people she was allowed to accompany photographically.
Every person is unique and so is their biography.
Palliative care is about the care of people with life-threatening and incurable diseases. The goal is always to treat these people with respect for their dignity and to guarantee them the best possible quality of life, both medically and in terms of nursing and psychology. Photography can play a major role in accompanying a person at the end of life because a photograph may help the person look back at their life story and encourage them to deal with their own biography. A photograph can bring emotions, needs and desires to the surface and trigger memories that may have been long forgotten. Private family photos have a unique value, because they are often the only documents still available from a bygone era. Dealing with one's own biography can also be used as a legacy for the surviving relatives. (Photo books, photo albums, family portraits) Life stories can be retold and passed on to the next generations. In looking at personal pictures and remembering, people give their own life a new value once again at the end. For patients suffering from dementia, dealing with their own life story also helps them to connect experiences from the past with the present. Therefore, phototherapy uses photography as a base for bringing back memories and rediscovering long forgotten emotions and feelings.
Tina Ruisinger is working as a photo therapist in various institutions and offers her artistic accompaniment in senior residences, hospices and hospitals. She also comes to private homes and conducts workshops in nursing homes. For more information and the whole dossier about the therapeutic offer please contact Tina Ruisinger.
