Lost Memories at Paignton Library

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Lost Memories is a multi-screen video installation that draws on screenwriter Gary Thomas’ experience of being a carer to his mother, who had Alzheimer’s Disease. Combining documentary phone footage with dramatised sequences, Gary’s film installation will be shown in five locations across the UK from June to November. Gary’s touring film will offer a moving and poignant insight into his lived experience as a caregiver, and incorporate stories submitted by members of the public of their experiences as carers.

Focusing on the personal insights of being a carer, Lost Memories will share Gary’s experience of looking after his mother. The installation will feature personal diary extracts, real phone footage and dramatised sequences, capturing the heart-breaking but also joyful moments of their relationship. The display will be spread across a three-screen installation, which audiences will be able to walk through.

Gary seeks to convey the texture of lives that revolve around the confusion behind dementia and the demands of caregiving. His installation aims to provide recognition for the large number of carers who look after their own relatives, as well as showing moments of clarity and the joy within these. To honour carers across the UK, Gary is inviting people to submit either 500 written words or a video diary, detailing their experience of being a carer. These honest accounts will be incorporated into the film installation at a later date, to ensure all voices are heard. Lost Memories seeks to uncover the lived experience of caregiving, which can often feel hidden and taboo in today’s tabloids.

Gary Thomas is a writer and filmmaker based in South East England, and also works in theatre, having produced four stage shows. He has worked across several moving image works including: Madness as a form of relaxation (2005), Coming out (Dada South) (2006), The Dog and the Palace (2012), Sectioned (2016). In 2020 Gary interviewed a diverse range of disabled artists and other creatives about their practice to enable him to explore his own unique style of working. Gary will also be running workshops in each location for artists and carers to share their stories. Lost Memories national tour is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Writer and Director Gary Thomas comments, I’ve often used my own life as inspiration for writing and my work in film. Being me, when my mother was diagnosed, and even before, I began recording and filming moments of our life that we shared together, both the good times and the difficult emotional times, some in audio, and some as film. I suppose I wanted a record of it, without knowing whether anyone else would see it at all.