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Daniels Awarded Bob & Diane Fund Grant For Alzheimer's Project
15 November 2016
The Bob & Diane Fund has announced Maja Daniels has been awarded its $5,000 grant for her work focusing on the struggles associated with Alzheimer's disease. The grant total mirrors the estimated out-of-pocket expenses borne each year by unpaid caregivers to tend to their loved ones.
Into Oblivion. A selection of three images from the project by Maya Daniels.
Daniels' work, Into Oblivion will be presented on Time LightBox and featured on the Bob & Diane site. Fujifilm North America will be donating a Fujifilm X100T camera to her as well.
"The Fund will allow me to finally complete this work by turning it into a publication," said Daniels, a Swedish photographer based in London. "The timing could not have been better and I am thrilled about this news!"
With 83 submissions from 22 countries the contest was judged by a jury of photojournalism professionals, all of whom expressed unanimous high praise for the winner's work.
"Maja's work offers a very tender and well-observed look at an institutional setting," says Sarah Leen, National Geographic Magazine director of photography. "The idea of coming back to that door is brilliant. I'm moved by it. It is smart, intellectual and highly emotional."
The Bob & Diane Fund, which launched in June 2016, is the passion project of Gina Martin, founder of the Fund, whose mother, Diane, succumbed to Alzheimer's after a five-year battle. Diane's high school sweetheart and husband for almost 50 years, Bob, was her primary caregiver and died just three months later. Their legacy of generosity and compassion for others was what inspired Gina to create the Fund in their names.
Making the Fight Against Alzheimer's Disease A Focal Point: First-ever Visual Storytelling Grant to Promote Awareness of the Global Epidemic
WASHINGTON -- Alzheimer's disease affects more than five million Americans, killing more people than Breast and Prostate Cancers combined. The financial toll it and other dementias take on patients and the people who care for them is equally staggering; in 2015, more than 15 million caregivers provided an estimated 18.1 billion hours of unpaid care while spending, on average, more than $5,000 a year doing so.
Today, the Bob & Diane Fund, a grant-making organization dedicated to promoting awareness of this incurable disease, is awarding that same amount, $5,000, to photographer Maja Daniels for her work to bring the struggles associated with the disease to light.
While advances in research efforts have been made over the past few decades, there is still no known cure for the disease that afflicts someone in the United States every 66 seconds. According to the World Alzheimer Report 2015, over 46 million people live with dementia worldwide. In many parts of the world there is a growing awareness of dementia but it remains the case that a diagnosis of dementia can bring with it stigma and social isolation.
Today's announcement attempts to help end that stigma while also rallying interest and support for funding research efforts by awarding the work of a photographer whose work tells the stories of patients and their caregivers with dignity and respect.
The Bob & Diane Fund, which launched in June 2016, is the passion project of Gina Martin, founder of the Fund, whose mother, Diane, succumbed to Alzheimer's after a five-year battle. Diane's high school sweetheart and husband for almost 50 years, Bob, was her primary caregiver and died just three months later. Their legacy of generosity and compassion for others was what inspired Gina to create the Fund in their names.
"Alzheimer's is more than just memory loss. It's the slow and painful evaporation of a life that takes an enormous toll on caregivers and families," says Gina. "The visual stories of patients and caregivers can humanize what is, in fact, a very cruel and dehumanizing disease. My hope is that the work funded today and in the future will have a profound and lasting effect on people, persuading them to support and advocate for a cure."
This year's winner Maja Daniels, is a Swedish photographer based in London. Her work, Into Oblivion will be presented on TIME LightBox and featured on http://www.bobanddianefund.org. Fujifilm North America will be donating a Fujifilm X100T camera to the winner.
With 83 submissions from 22 countries the contest was judged by a jury of esteemed photojournalism professionals, all of whom expressed unanimous high praise for the awardee's work.
"Maja's work offers a very tender and well-observed look at an institutional setting," says Sarah Leen, Director of Photography, National Geographic Magazine. "The idea of coming back to that door is brilliant. I'm moved by it. It is smart, intellectual and highly emotional."
"I'm not just an observer. I'm a resident, trapped with these people behind the doors," says Chip Somodevilla, Senior Photographer, Getty Images News. "I feel like I know what it is like to live in this life."
MaryAnne Golon, Director of Photography at The Washington Post called the work, "Fantastic. This reminds me in a modern way of how we're looking at the world with Instagram, as squares. Each picture takes me to another step."
