TITLE: Breathers, After Alzheimers

“Breathers” is an emotional typology of Pacific Northwest trees and their relationship to my late mother-in-law’s early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

They push upward and hover over homes, set against skies that isolate them like studio backdrops. The holes, spaces and inconsistencies in their branches and leaves mimic gaps in cognition – symbols of the holes left in the brain.

This work processes a disease that has claimed a rapidly vanishing memory, and the toll it’s taken on our family. In this context, the trees serve as listeners, breathers, and emotional guardians that have witnessed trauma and change.

AUTHOR: Jon Feinstein (United States)

Jon Feinstein is a Jewish photographer, writer, curator and co-founder of Humble Arts Foundation. His work has been widely exhibited throughout the United States at Blue Sky Gallery, Photographic Center Northwest, The Ogden Museum, Filter Photo Festival, Laney Contemporary, International Center for Photography, New York City's Book Arts, The Print Center, and more, and has been featured on Booooooom, Lenscratch, Lensculture, Paper Journal Ain't Bad, and VICE. His ongoing series Breathers received the 2021 Peter S. Reed grant.