The Long Goodbye: Grandmother's Portrait During Her Final Years

In a project spanning five years, Anne Moffat offers an intimate portrayal of her beloved late grandmother and looks to interpret the disorientating and repetitive nature of Alzheimer’s disease from which she suffered.

In a project spanning five years, Anne Moffat offers an intimate portrayal of her beloved late grandmother and looks to interpret the disorientating and repetitive nature of Alzheimer’s disease from which she suffered.

My grandmother was a dragon. A token of authority, dignity, honour and success, those born into the year of the dragon are considered highly lucky. She was a mother to eight, grandmother to eighteen, great-grandmother to ten and counting — and a sufferer of late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Forget Me Not (2015-2019) portrays my experience over consequent trips to visit my maternal grandmother, Kong Fung Tsze, in Sandakan, Malaysia; a process of trying to understand more of who I am, while watching her lose her independence and sense of self.

The project was completed over seven visits during the last five years of her life. The images move between the stillness of my grandmother in her room and the continuations of life outside the room. The same moments appear again, photographed years apart, with subtle changes, intricately interwoven in a lyrical, dreamlike narrative.

Although it’s impossible to fully comprehend what people with Alzheimer’s experience, this is my visual interpretation of the disorientating, challenging and repetitive nature of the condition, and the feelings that arise from watching the slow decline of a life of someone you cherish.

In loving memory of my grandmother, Kong Fung Tsze, 1928-2019.

Words and Pictures by Anne Moffat.

--------------

Anne Moffat (b. 1991, Australia) is a photographer working across an array of editorial, commercial and personal projects. Her current personal practice is of an autobiographical nature, drawing on ancestral ties to Malaysia, China, and New Zealand, and family migration to Australia, to inform her social documentation and portraiture. She is a member of Women Photograph. Find her on PHmuseum and Instagram.

---------------

This feature is part of Story of the Week, a selection of relevant projects from our community handpicked by the PHmuseum curators.

Latest News Items

  • A Guide to April 2024 Photo Awards & Opportunities

  • Join The New PhMuseum 2024/25 Online Masterclasses Program

  • Photobook Review: Ray’s a Laugh by Richard Billingham

  • A Guide To April 2024 Photography Festivals & Exhibitions

  • Photobook Review: Bannkörbe by Aladin Borioli

  • Maria Montes Duran’s Journey Through Latino Heritage in America

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Stay in the loop


We will send you weekly news on contemporary photography. You can change your mind at any time. We will treat your data with respect. For more information please visit our privacy policy. By ticking here, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with them. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.