99 Problems

The 99 Problems series of photographs attempts to depict humorously but authentically the sometimes crushing responsibility and despair of caring full-time for someone with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. The inspiration for the pictures was a need to express my own stress and despair in caring for my husband after he had already had Alzheimer’s for 8 years (he’s now in his 11th year with the illness)—and also to relieve that stress creatively as time for painting dwindled. I hope that the range of emotions depicted in the photos resonates with others who have been in a similar position, and also expresses the tension and uncertainty of trying to cope with a situation over which there is little to no control.

Some of the photos hang in Boston-area hospitals. Dr. Daniel Press, who serves as Chief of the Division of Cognitive Neurology at Harvard Medical School, says they “capture the challenges of caregiving with grace and humor.” He has had two of them, “Human Windsock” and “Propelled,” hung in the Albert Galaburda Art Gallery in his unit at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Dr. Alvaro Pasqual-Leone, Program Director of the Harvard-Thorndike Clinical Research Center, had “Up Against the Wall” hung in the Wolk Center for Memory Health in Boston’s Hebrew Rehabilitation Center. He comments that the photographs are “an inspiration that will bring hope to many.”

Photo prints are available for sale.