Join this multimedia conversation with acclaimed filmmakers Banker White and Anna Fitch and photographer Cheryle St. Onge as they explore what they’ve learned while documenting dementia and Alzheimer’s. Banker and Anna spent years documenting Banker’s mother Pam as she slowly but irrevocably changes, and her family struggles to keep up with her new realities.
Their journey was captured in the deeply moving, acclaimed THE GENIUS OF MARIAN (which participants will watch prior to the conversation). Cheryle has spent the past several years photographing her mother, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia. Cheryle’s series “Calling the Birds Home” captures her mother’s daily life amidst the changing seasons, indoors and out, in photographs that are both staged and captured in the moment. Cheryle’s photographs will be shared during the presentation.
Speakers
Cheryle St. Onge’s photographs focus on the crossover of art and science. She makes pictures predominantly with an 8 x 10 view camera and considers her work a collaborative process. Her photographs have been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London, Princeton University and in many other venues. Her awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Critical Mass Finalist Exhibition Award, Polaroid Materials Artist Support Grant and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Graduate Fellowship. She was named one of Time’s “Top 50 Photographers” in the country. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Photograph Magazine, Vice, Time Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, Time Magazine, The Guardian, and Oxford American.
Banker White, a multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker, is known for his explorations of complex situations, including war and disease and aging and death, marked by compassionate humanism. His award-winning film THE GENIUS OF MARIAN was broadcast on POV, as was his Ebola exploration SURVIVORS. SIERRA LEONE’S REFUGEE ALL STARS won awards at AFI Fest, Full Frame Film Festival, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, SXSW and the Miami International Film Festival. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacArthur Foundation, the Tribeca Film Institute, Impact Partners, LEF, DocSociety, SFFILM, the Catapult Film Fund and the Fledgling Fund. He is founder of the WeOwnTV Freetown Media Center in Sierra Leone.
Anna Fitch, an Emmy award-winning director, has created works that have aired on PBS, BBC, the National Geographic Channel and Channel4. Her works include OCTOPUS: MAKING CONTACT, SURVIVORS and BUGWORLD: WAR OF TWO WORLDS, winner of an Emmy for Best Documentary Directing. Anna’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tribeca Film Institute, the MacArthur Foundation, Doc Society, the Catapult Film Fund, The Fledgling Fund and the Bertha Foundation.
