Los Angeles native, photographer and interdisciplinary artist Safi Alia Shabaik had been living and working in New York City for almost a decade when she heard from her mother that her father was having health issues – she noticed something was different and suspected a stroke. In 2009, shortly after Shabaik returned home to California to help her dad, he received a Parkinson’s disease (PD) diagnosis. Shabaik eventually became his primary caregiver until his death on January 1, 2018. Their creative and existential collaboration – “Personality Crash: Portraits of My Father Who Suffered from Advanced Stages of Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, and Sundowners Syndrome” – grew out of their momentous time together. The exhibition, which features imagery from the last year of Shabaik’s father’s life, is on view at Open Mind Art Space through March 4 and marks the first-ever public showing of this body of work.
The artist’s reception on 2/25 follows an afternoon of live-streamed programming, “Personality Crash: The Intersection of Art and Science in PD,” featuring a presentation by Shabaik and moderated conversations on topics including Parkinson’s and creativity, family caregiving, patient advocacy, end-of-life care, and dying with dignity. To register for the webinar please visit Parkinson.org/ArtandScience
The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Parkinson’s Foundation through a generous Visual Arts Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Shabaik said: “I am humbled and elated by the NEA’s thoughtful recognition of this project, and I am deeply honored to partner with the Parkinson’s Foundation to exhibit Personality Crash, celebrating the intersection of art and science while bringing visibility to the broader PD community and encouraging discourse on the intricacies of disease, end-of-life care, and dying with dignity. My father would be proud to know that his struggle with the disease will now become something life-affirming.”
