Fading Minds
ATLANTA — Emily Lu was a student at Harvard University when she saw people with Alzheimer’s respond to works of art.
Over and over, she witnessed scenes of art awakening old memories and lifting the spirits of people with Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease that robs the mind of memories and reason.
“I remember a woman who was at first withdrawn and quiet, and then she saw a Monet painting, a sunset, and she opened up. She talked about her childhood, about how she and her brother were professional violinists,” said Lu, who created the Harvard Alzheimer’s Buddies for the Arts program.
The woman smiled and started gesturing as if she were playing a piano. It was a special moment.
Lu is bringing special moments to Atlanta.
Lu, who is graduating in May from medical school at Emory University, has created the new Museum Moments program at the Michael C. Carlos Museum.
Lu, 26, modeled the program at the Carlos museum after Meet Me at MoMA, a program at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which uses specially trained tour guides to help people with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s to connect to art.
For now, the program at the Carlos museum is designed for people with the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s. Lu hopes to eventually expand the program for people with more advanced stages.
“I think art is something that speaks to the human condition, to life and aging and all of those moments in life,” she said. “It can make you happy and sad. There are no wrong answers.”
She has also seen people respond to all genres of art, including abstract pieces such as “Boogie Woogie.”
“It’s a series of yellow, blue and white shapes,” she said. “And there’s nothing immediately recognizable. But it’s very dynamic, very colorful and expressive. And people see different things: Some people see buildings. Some people see street lights. Some see a city grid. And for some people, it reminds them of dance and motion.”
On a recent afternoon, a docent shared intricate details of an ancient sculpture of Terpsichore, the muse of dance.
But then the docent, Sharon LeMaster, asked a series of personal questions that indicated this was no ordinary tour.
“Does this remind you of anything?” she asked the group.
She paused.
“How does this make you feel?”
She paused again.
“Have any of you traveled to Greece?”
Bart Lewis, 65, smiled. He’s traveled to the Mediterranean country three times, including a backpacking adventure with his college roommate and then years later on a romantic getaway with his wife of 40 years, Doreen.
“I had one of those books about going to Europe on $5 a day, and my roommate and I got by on $3 a day,” he said with a laugh.
