I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer's, by Judith Fox, is a breathtaking pictorial memoir of a wife’s journey into understanding Alzheimer’s disease. After her husband, Dr. Edmund Ackell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Judith Fox decided to write this book in an effort to help caregivers, like herself, cope with feelings of isolation. What she has created is at once profoundly touching and surprisingly uplifting. I Still Do is a gift to her husband, and to all of us.
Library Journal has cited I Still Do, as one of the most interesting books of 2009; ELLE magazine is featuring I Still Do as the recommended book in their November magazine; Bottom Line/Health has an interview, story and photographs in their November issue; ForbesWoman will have a feature in November; ForeWord magazine has an enthusiastic review in their November issue; Spirituality & Health has a five page spread with photographs in their current issue; and the Rita Hayworth Gala will be giving a book to each of the attendees at their October New York Gala. There is additional press and media coverage coming up, and notice of those will be posted on her website: www.judithfox.com.
Photographs from I Still Do are in the permanent collections of LACMA, MOPA and the Harry Ransom Center. In New York, the Andrea Meislin Gallery (Chelsea) is having an exhibition of the work from January 7th through February 6; Fifty Crows Gallery in San Francisco is having an exhibition of Fox’s work from I Still Do and her series Sea of Dreams from February 26th to March 28th; and the Southeast Museum of Photography will have a show of Fox’s work in the fall of 2010.
In this gorgeous and compelling collaboration, Judith Fox unmasks her heart and her camera lens to reveal with exquisite honesty and artistry, the increasingly elusive portrait of her esteemed husband and partner. And with steadfast elegance, presence, and vulnerability, Ed Ackell gazes back to reveal the core of a transforming yet enduring self whose humanity will not concede to the ravages of Alzheimers. Spend time with this profound work of art, and discover that when so much has been taken away from these two extraordinary individuals, they have given you a rare and invaluable gift. Lisa Snyder, LCSW, Director, Quality of Life Programs, University of California, San Diego, Shiley-Marcos Alzheimers Disease Research Center
This is a lovely book about a devastating problem -- Alzheimer's. The pages are like poetry and the photos say more than words. Anyone who has cared for a loved one with Alzheimer's will relate to and appreciate every one of these pages. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Never have I been so moved by the expression of love, compassion, and artistic genius as here demonstrated through lens, pen, creative and involved mind.
How can the tragedy of a gradual departure from the world once brilliantly defined and embraced be made comprehensible?
How can living loss be portrayed in elemental naked force? How can a word, two words, a glimpse of hands, of eyes, of a body asleep evoke such profound empathic reaction?
I do not know how to properly praise this extraordinary documentation of the deterioration of a mind, body, soul affected by Alzheimer’s, a living tragedy of our time.
No more do I know how to put into non-trite form my reaction to the brilliant, terse, text accompany camera craft.
You must read this if you or anyone you know has been exposed to or affected by living death.
You must read this if you want to be exposed to emotional passion as seen through a ground-breaking master artist’s lens and soul.
You must read this if you want to discover and celebrate personal strength and artistic genius.
It is not depressing in spite of subject.
It is ART and LIFE in their most elemental, embracing, and moving form.
Trust me.
I do know.
Joan Helpern
Founder and Former CEO of Joan & David
Executive-in Residence, Emeritus
Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs
This project was supported, in part, by a grant, number 90AZ2791, from the Administration on Aging,
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201.
Grantees undertaking projects under government sponsorship are
encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of
view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Administration on Aging policy.
